Rest, Relaxtion, & Rowdyruffs!
by FantasticT
Summary: The Powerpuff Girls are headed off to Hawaii & are ready for nothing but rest, relaxtion...and the Rowdyruff Boys? When each of the girls meet their counterpart, their tropical paradise turns into a drama-filled nightmare! Original pairings. Rated T.
1. Prologue: Off to Paradise

**A/N:** So, having completed my story _Best Frienemies_, I realized that that idea had been used, that the story was over, and all that could happen next was reviews from later readers. It felt weird knowing that I'd finished a story I'd been working on for so long, and I felt like a mother sending her child off to college! So, instead of using an idea that I'd been cooking up for weeks previous to the conclusion of Best Frienemies like any sensible author would, I'm going to start on an idea that I created about a day or two after my last story was done!

In this story, each couple will have a separate story that will intertwine every once in a while. **I'll make sure to satisfy each of the different types of PPG fans**-you Red fans will get smart comebacks, you Blue fans will get your fluff, and you Green fans (Represent!) will get your cocky Butch and violent fight scene.

The story is going to be set during summer vacation in a small town called **Lanakai **(that's the brand of my ukulele-it means King Sea) in **Hawaii**, where the girls will be vacationing. Right near the ocean! All of the characters are **sixteen**.

Luckily for you, I've already completed and edited the following two chapters, so those will be up by the time you even begin reading, so you don't have to wait long for the _**drama**_to start...**(:**

**Enjoy!**

**DiSCLAiMER: I do not own the Powerpuff Girls. Pay your respects to Mr. Craig McCracken.**

Buttercup Utonium stood with her sisters in the Security Check in the airport in the same spot they were in ten minutes ago. She tapped her shoeless foot impatiently, glancing ahead to see how much longer it would take for them to get their luggage checked, rush to their hanger, and hop on their 7:00 plane from Townsville to Hawaii. She hadn't woken up at 4:00 that morning to double-check her suitcase, eat, and then drive an hour to the Townsville airport, all just to wait in a line and miss their flight.

She flashed back to just a few nights ago at the dinner table. Bubbles was practically jumping out of her seat with excitement, while Blossom tried to convince the Professor to join them on their vacation.

"Professor, are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure we can find an extra plane ticket if you change your mind, and I feel terrible leaving you here alone," Blossom said, giving the Professor a sad look. She'd been begging all week, but the Professor's answer was always the same.

"Really, Blossom, I'll be alright!" He told her, swallowing a bite of broccoli. "I've got too much work to do anyways, and there's a Scientists Convention coming into town in just two weeks. You girls will have an amazing time, and Ill be right here waiting when you get back."

"If you say so," Blossom said, clearly unconvinced that he was making the right decision.

Buttercup was almost tempted to stay home with the Professor and offer to help him with his lab work. Going to Hawaii meant sharing a beach house with her sisters, which she was dreading. Without their dad there to tell them to calm down, she knew she and Blossom were going to fight constantly. And hurting Bubbles' delicate little feelings was almost inevitable anyways. She loved her sisters with all her heart, but sometimes they had a way of screwing her over and making her day miserable without meaning to.

But at least in Hawaii, she could have time to herself. The beach house where they were staying for the next two months was right by the ocean, and the small town of Lanakai was just a few minutes walk away. Buttercup also happened to know that although Blossom was the leader, she was also her sister, meaning that Buttercup didn't have to listen to a word Blossom said. No curfew, no rules, and my own bathroom? It sounded like paradise already.

"God, why do these security checks take so damn long?" Buttercup mumbled, bouncing up and down on her feet, causing Blossom to turn around and hold her shoulders still.

"Ever heard of terrorists?" Blossom retorted. Several people whirled around, nervous at the mention of the word in an airport. She smiled at them to reassure them that everything was alright.

"We're superheroes for goodness sakes. We should be able to pass up all this security. If anyone should even be giving security checks, it should be us."

"Just think about it!" Bubbles interjected, completely disregarding Buttercup's last statement. "In just a few hours, we'll be landing in Hawaii!" She squealed with excitement, joining hands with her sisters and smiling.

Buttercup rolled her eyes. She knew the only reason why Bubbles was so excited was because she had a new bikini and all the boys would be flocking to her before she could say "Aloha!"

After twenty more minutes of waiting, the Powerpuff sisters wove through the security check, racing towards their gate and making it just before the plane took off. Sitting down in their seats, Bubbles claiming the window seat before anyone else could, Buttercup had to admit that she was secretly getting rather excited. Feeling the turbulence as the plane began to roll down the runway and hearing the pilot's voice announcing their takeoff made her smile. She was ready to get out of Townsville and head towards a month of nothing but fun, rest, and relaxation. And maybe a bit of partying. And maybe, just maybe she would wear the bikini that Bubbles had picked out for her. Feeling the plane lift off and gazing out the window along with Bubbles as fluffy white clouds began to surround their plane, Buttercup promised to make this a summer to remember.

Buttercup nearly clacked her heels together with joy once the flight was over. Twelve hours sitting next to Blossom and Bubbles was no easy feat for the short-tempered girl. Bubbles had to stare out of the window and find the shape of every cloud she saw, and it seemed like Blossom had to pee every half an hour on the dot. Even when Buttercup tried to catch some Zs, Blossom would just wake her up and tell her about a tourist attraction they had to try or another law that I should pay extra attention to. It took all of her willpower not to start screaming at the both of them to just shut up.

As soon as the plane came to a stop on the ground, Buttercup was already gathering all of her things from the overhead compartment. "Thank God," she mumbled, leaping out of her seat as soon as it was announced that they could leave the plane.

"Calm down, Buttercup!" Blossom warned as her sister scrambled out of her seat and shoving the people in front of her so that they would move.

"Have you ever sat with you and Bubbles on a twelve hour plane ride?" Buttercup scoffed. "Getting off this plane is a blessing!"

As soon as the three super powered teens stepped foot off of the plane, they could smell the relaxation in the air. They were swarmed with islanders handing out flower leis and out of the large airport windows they could see the seven o' clock sunset against the ocean a distance away, along with a small little lit-up town and palm trees as far as the eyes (even superhuman ones) could see. Buttercup counted down from five, waiting for her youngest sister to waltz off of the plane and squeal-

"_We're heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere_!" Bubbles exclaimed, jumping up and down with Blossom who could no longer hide her excitement. They both looked at Buttercup, who was standing to the side, and engulfed her into a group hug. Squished between her two sisters, the green eyed girl had to smile even a little bit, admitting that she was pretty pumped to be here. Getting away from Townsville would be nice-they hadn't gone on vacation in years, and it would be great to get away from all the constant crime (before they'd left, the police had called for double the forces) and always ringing hotline.

After watching the luggage carousel go around about ten times, the girls found their pink, green, and blue suitcases lined up in a row, quickly grabbing them and darting through the airport as quickly as possible. Coming out of the large building, they breathed in the fresh Hawaiian air. It smelled, like they expected, of coconuts and tasted like saltwater, perfect in every way.

"Now let's find our rental car," Blossom said, sliding her sunglasses on her face to get in the mood rather than to block out the disappearing sun.

"Not before this!" Bubbles said, bring her pink and green clothed sisters in for a group picture. "Everybody say 'Aloha!'"

"Aloha!" They all said, smiling their biggest smiles while the warm evening wind made their hair fly lightly in the breeze.

"Perfect," Bubbles said, examining the picture.

"Okay," Blossom said, starting to walk, the other girls following close behind. "The car rental company said that there was a specific area in the parking garage for rental cars on Level 2B. So, if we just go down these stairs and turn left, it should be in the second parking spot from the wall."

Just a few minutes later, the girls found themselves standing in front of a small white convertible, the tan roof slid down. In the mirror, a small card was tucked between the glass and the frame, reading, "Thank you, Powerpuff Girls, for choosing Randy's Rentals. Drive safely!"

Blossom pulled out the small silver key that she had been given before they'd left Townsville, a grin spreading across her face knowing that she would be the first to drive it. The Professor had put her in charge (as usual) and she planned on milking the assignment as much as possible, including getting first dibs on anything and everything she wanted. Of course Buttercup had argued endlessly with the Professor, complaining that Blossom always got to be in charge, but who could blame him? She'd been leading their team since they went to Pokey Oaks, and they hadn't lost a battle yet. And if Blossom could lead them to success in crime fighting, then it only made sense to dub her in charge of everything else as well.

Blossom broke out of her trance just in time to hear Bubbles squeal for the 50th time that day, popping the door open on the car to slide in. "Could this vacation get any more perfect? This car is adorable!"

Buttercup let out a sarcastic laugh. "Too bad you don't get to drive it."

Bubbles bright smile went down a few notches. It was true. The blue puff was the only one out of her sisters who hadn't passed her driving test. She had crushed all of the cones and nearly run over a person in the parking lot! She knew that she could fly, but it wasn't her first option. Unlike Buttercup, she hated to flaunt or even use her powers unless completely necessary. She knew it sounded silly, but as the years grew on she had wanted to be a normal teen like all of her friends, and she had wanted to use her powers less.

Fortunately for her, as the years had gone by, she'd also wanted to show her optimism more. Her smile returned just as fast as it had disappeared, and she replied, "Well, at least I'll look great riding in it!"

She and Blossom laughed, as it was rare that anyone put out a good comeback against Buttercup, and the three of them hopped into the car, driving out of the airport and into the light of the slowly dipping sun.

"This place is so cute!" Bubbles said, lifting her luggage out of the trunk. Because the house was right on the beach, they had to park their car behind the house, near the road. Bubbles lifted her suitcase into her arms, running around the side of the house, which she could already tell was amazing. Joining her sisters, she looked at the front of their home away from home.

The entire house was blue and white (Bubbles two favorite colors!), surrounded by a white picket fence, and faced the ocean head on. After traveling up the 5 long steps that led to the front door, there was a wraparound porch with two rocking chairs and a table on one side and a porch swing on the other. As they made their way inside, they saw a sunny kitchen to their right complete with a table and three chairs and to their left was a living room with a long couch, a large TV, and two beanbags. In front of them was stairs, leading to the second floor.

The girls stood quietly for a moment before Buttercup broke the silence, screaming, "I call the biggest room!" followed by Blossom trying to beat her to it. Bubbles shut the front door and made her way up the stairs slowly, listening to the sweet sound of her sisters arguing.

Welcome to paradise, she thought, heading up the stairs to calm them down and breathing in the fresh ocean air.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Alright, folks, the drama starts right off the bat! **This chapter is for you Blues fans!**

**Enjoy!**

**DiSCLAiMER: I don't own the PPGs; however I DO own a sombrero!**

Bubbles woke up bright and early the next morning, excited to get my vacation started. Turning to look out her window towards the ocean (while Buttercup and Blossom argued about who got what room, She had snuck in and unpacked in the room with the best view), she could tell that it was early, because the sun was just starting to make it's way into the sky and she could hear the chirping of seagulls.

She hopped out of bed and quickly brushed her hair back into a single ponytail, whipping a white halter top and blue jean shorts out of her bag and putting them on, along with plain white flip flops.

She grabbed her house key and then slowly whisked down the stairs. She went into the kitchen, and, realizing that they hadn't purchased any food supplies yet, decided that she'd just skip breakfast and eat later on. She went on to open the front door and shut it with a quiet click, as to not wake her sisters.

She headed down the stairs from the beach house and walked up the beach for a few minutes, waiting until their home was out of view. When it was, she continued down the sandy shore until she came to a spot that was blocked by rocks, rocks that went from the land and sliced out into the blue ocean.

Now, because with great power came great curiosity, Bubbles climbed onto the rocks, heading out towards where they split the ocean. She went out as far as she possibly could into the water and then going around the side of the rock and coming across a cave was large enough only for a few people, maybe three or four at most. She crawled in and sat down, watching the peaceful waves splash against the rocks and the sun rise in the distance.

She stared out, breathing in the fresh air. Bubbles had always been one for the ocean, which was why when the Professor announced where they'd be going, she'd been wild with excitement. Something about it just brought a feeling of peace to her. She couldn't decide on whether it was the smell of saltwater, the sound of the waves crashing in harmony with the seagulls calling overhead, the way the sun reflected perfectly off the water-

Bubbles' thoughts were interrupted by the distinct sound of footsteps on rocks, which could only mean that someone else was exploring as well. Bubbles looked up to see a boy rounding the corner.

He jumped, surprised at the sight of her. "Looks like I'm not the only one who likes this spot. Can I join you?"

The boy was cute, so Bubbles didn't complain when he came to sit next to her. He had short, sandy blonde hair, and looked about Bubbles' age. She couldn't help but notice, either, that he was tall and rather muscular-he looked amazing in a tight black shirt and khakis. But the most unusual thing about him was his eye color-they were a deep blue, but they were the oddest shade, unlike anything she'd ever seen. Or, at least anything she'd ever seen since-

But it couldn't be him. Could it?

"So, how'd you find this place?" he asked. He quickly added, "Not that I mind you being here, its fine."

"Just looking around. I'm guessing you come here a lot?"

"Yeah. This is kinda the place I come to be alone and just...think. One of my favorite places to be."

Bubbles, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment, started to quickly apologize. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that this was such a special spot for you, I'll leave if you want, it's really not a big deal and-"

The boy let out a small laugh and shook his head. "You really haven't changed at all, Bubbles."

His nonchalant tone caught Bubbles off guard. "You know who I am?"

The boy, who Bubbles was now sure was Boomer, nodded. "After years of shoving you into buildings and cars, it's kind of hard to forget you. Plus, I've never seen anybody else with eyes like yours."

Bubbles began to blush at what sounded like a compliment, but the redness quickly disappeared from her face as she thought of something else.

"So, you're not gonna, like, attack me or anything?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Not unless you make me mad." Boomer saw Bubbles scoot away nervously, and smiled with a, "Just kidding."

"So, you just gave up evil? No more fighting? No more anything? You and your brothers were so bad back then, and now you've just given it up?"

Boomer kept a reserved look on his face and responded, "In a way. Mojo and Him brought us here after they got bored of fighting you three. They kind of abandoned us in a way...they paid for a house for me and my brothers to stay in, then both left to find other places to try and take over. It took some time to get adjusted to living here-sure, we still did some little crimes, but after a while we realized that fighting wasn't as fun without someone to...you know...fight back.

"Butch is pretty much the only one of us who still likes to fight (he sure does plenty of it in town), but me and Brick are pretty chill for the most part. I think sometimes Brick misses it, but only when something reminds him of when we lived in Townsville. I don't really miss it all that much though. Once we got here, I was about ten times happier, so..."

Boomer let his sentence fade, and the two teens sat quietly, watching the sun continue to rise into the sky. Bubbles was still in shock at just how much Boomer had changed, both mentally and physically. She noticed that the years not only brought him peace, but good-looks as well.

In fact, Bubbles thought she might even fancy him if he hadn't been so cruel to her and her sisters years ago. Scratch that. Bubbles fancied him anyways, although she tried her best not to feel that way, because if her sisters found out, she'd be dead.

But, Bubbles, who was a natural flirt, couldn't resist turning to Boomer and saying, "So, it's been a long time since we've seen each other...do you want to maybe spend the day catching up?"

Boomer turned to Bubbles and smiled, nodding, "Sure."

By the end of the day, Bubbles had no doubt that despite their rough past, she was head over heels for Boomer. After they'd left the little cave under the rock, they'd decided to go change into their swimsuits and meet back at the beach in twenty minutes. When Bubbles had returned, Blossom was gone with the car, but Buttercup's snores were floating down from upstairs. She quickly changed and headed back to the beach.

The rest of the day had been a blast. They had gone swimming (Boomer had gotten a crab stuck to his toe and tried to remove it while Bubbles laughed), entered (and won!) a sandcastle contest, bought ice cream from a passing ice cream truck, and played a few rounds of beach volleyball with other people. By the time they were tired and ready to eat, it was already 5:30 and the sun was making its way back down. The pair made their way into town and found themselves sitting around a small wooden table, waiting for someone to take their order.

Bubbles, who was exhausted after a day full of fun, had zoned out thinking about Boomer and how she was sure that he liked her back. He kept making her laugh and smile and blush all day and kept acting very flirty. She felt absolutely _amazing_. When she broke out of her trance, Bubbles noticed that Boomer was texting someone and smiling widely.

"Who ya texting?" Bubbles asked; in the back of her mind, she regretted it, knowing that it was none of her business.

Boomer didn't take it as an invasion of privacy though. "Actually, you'll see in just a minute. I hope you don't mind, I invited her to eat with us and-oh, here she comes now!"

Boomer pointed towards the door of the restaurant, and Bubbles' face fell almost immediately. The girl that walked in was stunning. She had wavy, brunette hair that went to almost her hips and a face that belonged on the cover of Vogue. She was tall and skinny-the body of a model-and was dressed in ripped jean short shorts, a red and black checkered shirt, and strappy black sandals.

"Hi," the girl said happily, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Bubbles smiled back painfully, and responded with a quiet, "Hi."

"Rebekah, this is Bubbles," Boomer said, scooting closer to the girl and wrapping his arm around her waist, "Bubbles, this is my girlfriend, Rebekah.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** And now, it's time to write **the chapter that the Green Fans will adore!** It actually took me a couple tries to get this chapter right—I had to make sure the way they "met" worked smoothly. This chapter is actually going to start with Buttercup's POV and then switch over to Butch's after a while. (**Warning:** For Butch's POV, you'll have to excuse me. I don't know how guys communicate.)

The more you review, the faster I'll update! Enjoy!

**DiSCLAiMER: I don't own the Powerpuff Girls, but I do own a waffle maker.**

By the time Buttercup woke up, her sisters had already left the house. She leaned to the side, running her hand through her messy bed head and glanced at the alarm clock: 12:45 PM. Not surprising. She'd never been a particularly early riser.

Buttercup sniffed the air, hoping to smell the scent of freshly baked muffins or crispy bacon, but finding herself disappointed. At least it narrowed down where she would be going for the day. The night before, she'd no idea where the first place she would visit on my vacation would be, but now she knew exactly where she was headed: to the nearest restaurant.

The girl unzipped her suitcase and pulled out the first things she saw, a pair of green and white plaid shorts and a black tank top. She grabbed one of her hoodies, slipping it on and flipping the hood on top of her head. She finished getting herself dressed, quickly brushed out her hair, and slid on her biggest pair of sunglasses to hide her tired eyes. After a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up, she went downstairs and shut the front door behind her.

_Stupid Blossom,_ Buttercup thought, grimacing. Of course she'd already stolen away the car to head into the nearby city, leaving Buttercup to walk or fly wherever she wanted to go. She decided against flying-the people in this town wouldn't be used to it, and would be alarmed at the sight of a flying teenage girl with a green streak of light behind her. Luckily, just a walk across the street and a ways down the road, there was a little shopping center with stores, restaurants, a park, a pet store, a small movie theatre, and other buildings.

Letting out her final yawn for the morning, Buttercup began her walk down the road, looking for the nearest place to find food.

"I'm sorry, Arianna, babe," Butch Jojo said, placing his hands on the crying girl's shoulders. They were standing outside of the movie theatre, and he was trying to break it to her gently. "It's just not working out for me. But I'm sure that you'll find someone else."

Not that he really thought she would find someone better. Butch thought himself one of the best looking guys in Lanakai.

Arianna glanced up at him for just a second with swollen red eyes and then shoved him, taking off running down the street. Oh well. Nothing new. Nobody he'd ever broken up with had ever taken it lightly, so he was used to getting shoved around a little bit, but it didn't matter much to him. He'd find someone new by next week anyways.

Butch shrugged, turning the corner to join his mates Mitch and Seth, who were waiting for him in the small alley behind the movie theatre. Mitch and Butch had both lived in Townsville until their parents (or in Butch's case, his psycho monkey father and drag-queen dad) had moved them out to Lanakai. It took a while for them to get to know each other, but Mitch turned out to be an okay dude. Seth, on the other hand, he'd just kind of picked up as a friend-Seth had dropped out of high school and run away from home to try and play music. Butch had met him about a year ago, playing at one of the local shops.

"Nice, dude," Seth said, high-fiving him on another successful dumping.

"As usual," Butch replied as the trio started walking down the street. "But, I can't start looking for another girl on an empty stomach. Let's go."

They turned a corner and started heading down the street towards their favorite restaurant, laughing about the look on the girl's face when Butch had broken her the news, when Butch noticed that Mitch was unusually quiet. He stopped walking abruptly in front of the eatery and turned to Mitch. "What's your deal? Pretty quiet today."

"Nothin', I just can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" Butch asked, eyeing him.

"Can't believe that even if every girl _in the city_ knows your rep, you _still_ get them. No matter what. It's unbelievable. I just don't know how long it's gonna work!"

Something about his tone sounded like a challenge to the green-eyed boy. "It'll keep working for as long as I want it to keep working. I can get any girl I want in this place."

Mitch looked him straight in the eye and grinned mischievously. "You wanna bet?"

"What's the bet?" Butch said, loving the excitement and knowing that he would win already, just like every other time they made a bet.

"Seth and I get to choose one girl in this restaurant, any girl we want. You have to get her to say that she loves you by the end of the month." Mitch took a moment to think. "Whoever loses has to pay the other $50 and dye their hair pink."

Seth's eyes widened and he whacked Mitch in the arm. "Who said I was dying my hair pink?"

"I just did, dumbass," Mitch replied, turning his attention back to Butch. "So, we got a deal?"

Butch weighed his options. Since he'd moved to this town 9 years ago, he'd dated one, two, three...around 68 girls, and he couldn't remember one of them saying the dreaded "L" word. Nah, he broke up with them all before anything got too serious. And sure, they were disappointed and there were tears (lots and lots of them) but he was sure that they'd move on soon enough. Secondly, Butch lived by the motto, "You're only young once, so screw commitment now." And, when it came down to it, Butch wasn't that much of a romantic in the first place. Sure he was charming, good-looking, funny, spontaneous...what he thinking about again? Oh yeah. But he didn't know how to make a girl fall so hard that she'd said that she'd loved him, so the chances that he would win were pretty slim this time...

But if he turned down the bet, Mitch and Seth would both think he was a wuss. "Alright, you got yourself a deal."

The boys shook hands, binding the bet. "Alright then," Mitch said, gazing through the glass to the inside of Coconut Joe's, a small restaurant that was one of their favorite haunts. "Let's see who the lucky girl will be."

They waited for a few minutes by the door, casually watching one or two customers come and go. The three boys looked through the glass windows into the small restaurant, coming close to choosing someone every couple of minutes, but then deciding that she wasn't good enough. Butch was starting to get really impatient by the time the girl passed by him. She was wearing green shorts and had black hoodie flipped up on her head, large sunglasses planted on her face. The frown on her face made Butch want to avoid her, although something about her seemed oddly familiar. Had he dated her years before? No, he'd remember that raven-hair if he had. Maybe she was someone he'd kissed at a party at some point? No, he would have been able to identify those soft, light pink lips in a heartbeat. So, if hadn't had some sort of romantic involvement with the girl, where exactly did he know her from? He knew he knew that awful frown, strong walk, and angry aura from somewhere, but where? Butch silently hoped that Mitch hadn't noticed her-he felt somewhat uncomfortable about approaching her.

Unfortunately enough for Butch, not a moment after the girl had gone inside and taken a seat at her table, Mitch declared, "Alright, her. That girl in the black with the sunglasses."

"Are you sure?" Butch mumbled, automatically regretting asking the question.

"Why? You gonna chicken out?" Match said, smiling. "Cause, we can head down to the store and grab some hair dye now if you want."

Butch was a bit nervous, but refused to back down from the challenge. "If you're gonna head down there by yourself, sure. You're gonna be needing that dye real soon."

Butch, turning on his heel without saying another word to his friends, grabbed the silver handle of the restaurant door Just before he entered, he leaned out, leaving the boys with a simple, "Watch and learn."

Butch confidently strode into the restaurant, the bell above the door ringing as he went inside. The cool air was a relief from the hot summer air, but that didn't calm Butch down in the least. Leave it to Mitch to choose the biggest stick-in-the-mud in the place. The girl's stormy disposition was a complete turn-off, and he was getting that gut feeling that told him to turn and run, but he ignored it, putting on a smile and heading across the room towards the girl, who was sitting at the middle table against the wall with a menu held up in front of her face.

He approached the booth, and motioning to the other side of the table, he coolly, "Um, hey...is anyone sitting here?"

Without missing a beat, the girl replied, "Not unless they're invisible."

_This is gonna be one hard egg to crack_, Butch thought, awkwardly sliding into the seat across from her. She continued to hold the menu in front of her face. A few minutes of silence passed, the only interruptions being by the waitress as she came to have them order their drinks and again as she delivered them.

After the waitress left the second time, Butch realized that no conversation had been made yet. He brought up the first topic that came to mind. "So, you come here often?"

"Really? That old line?" she scoffed. "You'd think that people would be a little more creative nowadays."

"It was just a question," Butch snapped back, rolling his eyes. They were clearly going to have nothing in common. She had just met him five minutes ago, and already they were disagreeing.

He decided to continue to talk. "So, I'm guessing you're on vacation here."

The girl was silent for a moment. "You guessed correctly," she replied, finding no way to respond rudely. She still held that stupid menu in front of her face; and Butch was resisting the urge to push it down and get a good look at her face.

Butch breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. Finally, a straight answer. "So, how're you liking the place so far? Not much, but it's alright here."

"Our plane just landed last night, so I haven't seen much of the place yet," the girl said, taking a sip out of her drink. "My sisters and I are staying in this beach house just a few minutes away."

Butch nodded calmly, although he was beginning to feel a bit odd. He was getting a weird feeling from this girl, although he couldn't peg why. He tried his best to shrug off the feeling and continued talking before another silence settled over them. "So, where are you from?"

Before she had a chance to answer, their waitress came to take their food orders. The girl ordered the same thing as him, the largest burger on the menu.

"From the city of Townsville, it's almost right in the center of Ohio and it's-"

The words that had just tumbled out of the girls mouth took Butch by complete surprised. "Seriously? That's exactly where I lived before I moved here, the place is swamped with a whole bunch of creeps.".

Given, Butch had been one of those creeps, but he wanted to try to appeal to this girl as much as possible. And although she would probably go for the bad boy type, he doubted that she would want to date anyone who'd assisted an insane chimp in trying to take over her Hometown.

"Ugh, tell me about it. Had to be one of the most annoying cities on Earth."

"Mm. Probably," Butch agreed. That conversation was over quickly. Though Townsville always had something exciting happening, the otherworldly monsters and outlandish crimes were all part of an uneventful day for natives, and so there was nothing much to say about the city other than that it was terribly crime-ridden.

"So...how long are you gonna be in town?" Butch asked, beginning to start a conversation that would end, if things went as planned, with the girl's number in Butch's phone.

"About two months," the girl replied (More than enough time! Butch thought happily). Then, returning back to her original attitude, added, "Why do you want to know?"

Butch took a silent but deep breath, ignoring her annoying attitude. "Cause I was wondering if we could see each other sometime, you know, maybe see a movie or something."

The girl, obviously not used to being asked out, dropped her menu on the table and lowered her sunglasses. At the same time, Butch was taking a long sip of his drink to ward off the heat of June. He glanced up at her and their eyes met.

Butch would've found this moment perfect for romantic purposes in normal circumstances. However, as he locked eyes with the girl, his own eyes grew in surprise at the same time hers did. Staring back at him were the brightest green eyes he'd ever seen. For a moment, he lost his cool, spitting his soda all over the girl in surprise and causing her to scream angrily, "What the hell?"

They both leaped up from the table, now with the entire restaurant watching them nervously. A feeling that Butch hadn't felt in years now took over his body, and a smile that hadn't spread across his face now showed as he recognized the girl in front of him.

"Long time, no see, Buttercup" he said approaching her. He could practically see the steam coming out of her ears as she faced him.

"You," she growled, her face growing red with anger. "Butch, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Enjoy your lovely company, sunshine," she smiled sarcastically; pushing Buttercup's buttons was just as fun as he remembered.

"You know what I mean, you idiot. And wipe that stupid smile off your face."

"But, Buttercup! It's so much more fun if you wipe it off for me!" Butch prodded, his adrenaline pumping like it always did right before he knocked someone's lights out, and Buttercup wasted no time responding to him with a punch. Right as Buttercup's fist swung towards his face, a small reminder popped up in the back of his mind. He managed to push it away and lose all common sense just as the entirety of the restaurant gasped and Buttercup's fist made contact with Butch's jaw for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

Butch smiled, unable to resist a good fight. He knew that fighting a girl would look bad in front of all of these people who lived in his town, especially when they weren't used to super powered fighting, but once a villain, always a villain, which gave Butch the ability to not care. He swung back at Buttercup, hitting her right in the cheek, and she dove at him, sending them crashing through the glass window and out onto the street.

Butch was slammed into a car that had stopped at a red light, surprising the life out of the driver. Buttercup got in about five blows to his stomach before he kicked Buttercup as hard as he possibly could , sending her soaring across the concrete, tearing up the road as she slid.

"You're gonna have to do a little better than that, babe," he taunted, working her up even more.

"You can keep talking, Butch, but you're not proving anything until you've actually put up a good fight!" she screamed from across the road, her face red with anger.

Butch soared towards her, making her think that he was going to hit her head on, but actually grabbed a nearby parking meter and took a swing, knocking Buttercup into the air where she collided with a building. Butch flew towards her again, only to have his face meet with the bottom of her shoe at the last second. He ricocheted off, grabbing her foot and dragging her from the building along with him.

He swung her around, preparing to launch her into another building, when she zapped his hand with her laser vision, catching him by surprise and making him let go of her. That gave her enough time to shoot right back at him, elbow pushing into his back. They hurtled downwards with great force until they felt themselves crashing through one wall of the local bookstore and out the opposite wall.

After coming back into focus, Buttercup found herself flat on top of Butch, staring right into his matching green eyes. He smiled suggestively, and, while forcing down a blush, Buttercup contorted her face into a look of disgust, punching him in the nose and causing him to bleed a little.

Butch still had a stupid grin plastered on his face, and Buttercup proceeded to float upwards, lifting him by his collar and wipe it off his face when suddenly Butch had grabbed her hands and shoved her back against a nearby brick wall. Buttercup felt her face grow even hotter than before with their bodies so close to each other. Butch pressed his forearms against the wall, trapping the Powerpuff, and moved closer so that their faces were inches apart.

His hair falling in his eyes, he whispered with a sly smile, "You look great since I last saw you...but I've got some business to take care of. See you later, babe."

Then, like a quick flash of lightning during a storm, Butch was gone in a streak of dark green light. But, as he zipped quickly away, one thought plagued his mind:

_I have to get a Powerpuff Girl to fall for me. And I've got till the end of the month to do it._


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry about the delay on this update, everyone. Our computer's been messed up for a bit-it keeps getting frozen and shutting down out of nowhere. But, thanks to my lovely grandparents, I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP! So, if my writer's mind does allow it, you shall be receiving more regular updates. Hope you stuck around though! **This chapter is for the Reds fans!**

**Enjoy!**

**(Update: Thank you to 1000GreenSun! He/she noticed that I forgot to replace the *s with italicized words! It's been fixed now though!)**

**DiSCLAiMER:** I do not own the Powerpuff Girls or any related characters, places, etc.; I do however, own a copy of every Harry Potter Book.

Brick Jojo often found himself in plenty of weird or annoying or downright frustrating situations. Years ago, it had been trying to please Mojo and destroy Townsville. Recently, it was to get Boomer to listen to his instructions and to get Butch out of all the trouble he got into at school, in the streets, or-most consistently-with girls. But today, Brick thought, as he walked away from the girl he'd just met in the library, was a completely different kind of situation.

The day had started out normally. As usual, Boomer was out of the house as soon as the sun rose. He always headed down to the beach to go to his secret spot, which Brick still had yet to know the location of. Brick rose almost exactly three or so hours later, and as usual, he could hear Butch's snoring from down the hall.

Brick got up from his bed and lifted his blankets off of his body, stretching and shaking out his head of bright auburn hair. He pulled some blue jeans and a red and black plaid shirt from his closet, putting them on and slapping his signature red cap on the top of his head, leaving his bedroom with a slam of his door.

Brick was the type of boy that liked to plan things out, which was why he already knew exactly what his plan was for the day-he wanted to go to the book store, which doubled as a café, and pick up a copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which was on his list for school summer reading. He was dreading it; if he had been more like Butch, he would've just skipped the reading completely. He found the idea of two people from two feuding families falling in love ridiculous. And the fact that they killed themselves at for each other at the end? Ludicrous. Not worth it at all. He'd never been one for love, especially not unbelievably cheesy love-at first-sight love. It just didn't make sense much to him. He thought that the characters should realize what was coming their way: pain, and nothing but it.

Brick bounded down the stairs and out the front door, grabbing his keys from the small key rack near the stairs. Butch liked showing off his superhuman abilities, but Brick preferred to lay low since the citizens of this town weren't as used to unnatural super teens flying around like the people of Townsville were.

Brick hopped in his black Volvo, and cruised down the road for about 10 minutes, nearly losing his hat to the wind whipping in from the open windows. Soon enough, he pulled into the local bookstore, Books N' Nooks, next to a white convertible.

Several heads turned as he stepped out of his car-the years had been good to he and his brothers, and they were now the three most sought after boys at Kapu Kane High. Butch milked this reputation as much as possible-Boomer used it every once in a while-but Brick, whose fantastic surfing abilities added to his appeal, never found himself interested in any girl at all at his school...not since...

Anyways. He made his way into the bookstore, ignoring the gazes of his admirers and focusing solely on what he'd come here for. He streamlined his way to the back of the store, where the classics were kept. Looking through the shelves, he noticed that there was no more copies of Romeo and Juliet left, when he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye.

There were a few comfy armchairs that were arranged all along the walls of the area, making for a comfortable spot to read. However (and to Brick's surprise) there was only one seat filled-a very pretty girl with fiery orange hair had taken a seat, and, as Brick could tell from the cover, she was holding the last copy of the book, as well as a copy of "Surfing For Dummies".

Brick groaned quietly, hoping that she would give the book over without much of a fight, although he doubted it-any sixteen year old girl who was reading Shakespeare was bound to be a little out of the ordinary. He stepped closer to her so that he was standing in front of her chair, and remembered to "turn on the charm" before he spoke:

"Sorry, but I was wondering if you were going to buy that," Brick asked, smiling.

The girl looked up, and he had about three seconds to register who she was. The orange hair. The pink sundress. Knowledge to understand Shakespeare. He should have guessed it was her before she looked up at him with light pink eyes.

It took only a fragment of a second for Blossom and Brick to realize the identity of the other, and when they did, a cold glare possessed both of their eyes. Blossom stood up to face off with Brick, arms crossed, leader against leader. They stood, standing off against each other in the store. Although Butch and Buttercup's rivalry was built on violence and was thought to be the worst, Brick & Blossom's rivalry had always been, in actuality, the most intense.

Brick could feel the pure uncomfortableness of the moment starting to grow, & decided to break it by saying, "Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Isn't this an unpleasant surprise from the past?"

"I could say the same about you, Brick," Blossom scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, babe," Brick said smartly, knowing that the old nickname would irk her even further. "But you've walked in on our territory. If anyone should be asking questions, it should be me."

"Yes, of course. I should be allowing you, a super powered villain who used to try and pound me and my sisters into the ground every week for no reason and then disappeared out of nowhere, to ask the questions. That's completely logical," Blossom said sarcastically.

"We didn't _try_ to pound you into the ground. We _did_ pound you into the ground," Brick retorted, not allowing her to act like she and her sisters never lost a fight to his team.

"Either way, look at which one of us was driven out of Townsville by three five year old girls."

Brick grew a bit angrier, but refused to allow Blossom a reaction and kept his composure. "We were not _driven_ out. We were told to come here."

"By who? The pain on your backsides after we kicked them?"

"Who it was that sent us here is none of your business. The point is that we're here and have been; don't expect to waltz in and try to keep an eye on us or control us, because that won't be happening." Brick finished and noticing the books still in Blossom's hands, remembered why he'd come here in the first place.

"So if you don't mind, I'll be on my way," Brick said, reaching out and grabbing the book from Blossom, who attempted to grab it back.

"Excuse you!" Blossom said, grabbing onto the book and clutching it as tightly as she could.

"Blossom, let go. You and me both know that I'm stronger than you," Brick warned, although he had to say that Blossom's grip was firm.

The pair struggled back and forth; although they had not done battle of any kind for almost a decade, their powers will still evenly matched. Neither of them planned on giving up anytime soon, both wanting to show their dominance. Suddenly, though, Blossom must have realized just how badly she wanted to read the book, because she yanked backwards as hard as she could, toppling over and causing Brick to come along with her. It landed them in an awkward position on the ground, with just the book separating their bodies.

Both their eyes widened as they realized what had happened, and just as their faces were growing red, one of the bookstore employees, an older woman, turned the corner and gasped at them.

"This is a bookstore, not a...a...an inappropriate college party!" she bellowed at them. Brick rolled off of Blossom, fighting the heat growing on his face, and stood up to face the woman.

"Mam, I can assure you, that was just an accident. I would never, especially not with _her_, try and-"

"Oh, hush now, boy," the woman snorted, rolling her eyes. "Don't think I don't know all the tricks. 'We tripped' are simply code words for 'we'll wait 'till you've turned your back'. And to see that kind of act being done on top of this great classic," the woman said, picking up Romeo and Juliet, "Nearly unforgivable. I must ask you both to quickly make your selections and leave."

The woman walked away, taking the book with her.

"Lovely job on your part, Blossom," Brick said, venom in his tone. The only copy of the book in the store-gone, ruined by Blossom's stubbornness. Then, as an instinct, Brick extended a hand to Blossom to help her up, which he instantly regretted as she slapped his hand away and stood up on her own. _Why did he have to be such a gentlemen?_

He watched as Blossom bent to pick up her other book-_Surfing for Dummies_. He nearly laughed out loud, and said to her, "You came to Hawaii without knowing how to surf? I can do it with my eyes closed and both hands tied behind my back."

"I came to Hawaii _to_ learn how to surf," Blossom said, hiding the book defensively behind her back.

What Brick didn't know was that across from him, a now fuming and embarrassed Blossom was slowly creating a plan inside her head. If she got him to teach her to surf, that would give her more opportunities to find out about what had really happened to he and his brothers-it was a "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" type concept.

So, knowing that Brick wouldn't turn down anything that sounded like a challenge, Blossom looked at him and said smartly, "And if you're so great at it...why don't _you_ teach me?"

Brick felt his heart give a loud thump inside his chest. He hadn't taught anyone since _her_, and look at how that had ended...But this was Blossom. He couldn't let her think that he was bluffing about being a phenomenal surfer. It would bother him to no end if she thought she was better than him in any way.

"Fine, I will. Just a few lessons, I don't want to have to see you any more than I need to."

"And neither do I. It's been nine years since I last saw you, and that still isn't long enough," Blossom shot back at him. "But if you're as good of a surfer as you say you are-"

"I am," Brick said firmly. "Eight o clock on the North Beach tomorrow. Don't be late."

"Fine." Blossom turned around and strode out of the section, throwing _Surfing for Dummies_ back on a nearby shelf.

And so Brick Jojo rolled his eyes, finding himself in yet another unbelievably annoying situation. He just hoped that the hours would go by like turtles so that he didn't reach tomorrow, and, departing the Classics section, he realized that he was leaving with more than he bargained for.

Roaming amongst the books for a few more minutes, Brick couldn't help the anger that was growing inside of him. Why had fate brought he and Blossom back together? The Lord knew that they had been much happier to just forget about each other. And now he was going to have to see her again more than once, all because he wanted his pride. But to Brick, it didn't matter. He would've preferred to eat slugs than to lose his pride, especially to Blossom.

So, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. And Brick turned a corner to exit the bookstore, he sighed and noticed one thing out of the corner of his eye: a single copy of _Romeo and Juliet_, tucked into the middle of a nearby shelf.

He mentally slapped himself, walking out the front entrance of the store, only to hear a loud crashing next to him and two teens, a boy and a girl, come soaring through the wall of the book store. He recognized the boy's black mess of hair anywhere.

"_Butch_..." he growled, advancing towards the fighting pair, fists clenched and teeth bared. "I swear, I'm gonna _kill_ him."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Two chapters at once, oh yeah. Bonus awesome points because I'm typing this from the **_**penthouse **_**of a hotel! 'Tis magical, my friends. 'Tis magical. **

**I'm going to apologize now for any mistakes that are in here. I'm lazy and didn't much feel like going back and editing other than SpellCheck. I hope you'll forgive me!**

**By the way, I've just finished the Harry Potter series. SO GOOD. SO. GOOD.**

**Enjoy!**

**DiSCLAiMER:** Alright, this is going to be a blanket disclaimer. I in no way own the Powerpuff Girls or any related characters, places, or things. All respects should be paid to Cartoon Network.

Butch, feeling a mix of nervousness, satisfaction, and annoyance, zoomed up into the sky and away from the scene below him, soaring over the town and towards West Beach, where he and his brothers lived. He continuously cursed in his head, wishing he hadn't been such an idiot. He was going to have to dye his hair pink, give up $50 that he didn't even have, and worst of all, listen to Mitch's gloating for months. Of course, out of every girl in the entire city, they had to go and choose the one that would date Butch only when hell froze over.

But when Mitch and Seth found out that it was Buttercup of all people who they'd selected, they would have to choose someone different, right? Buttercup and Butch were worst enemies, and although counterparts, were total opposites. They hated each other, and always would. And after years of slamming her into skyscrapers, Butch doubted that he would be able to get Buttercup to shake his hand, much less get her to say that she loved him. So that made the bet unreasonable and unfair and invalid, and therefore, would have to be changed.

Butch was going through these assurances in his head, believing that if he thought them enough that they would be true, he was grabbed from behind and began plummeting towards the ground. He watched the sand grow closer and closer, and hit just a millisecond after he could see every individual grain. He quickly shoved his attacker off of him and, expecting it to be Buttercup, plastered a smile on his face to look like he was just amused. But, leaping off the ground and swinging around, his sarcastic smile was wiped clean off his face.

His brother, Brick, was standing there, his face nearly as red as the baseball cap he always wore backwards.

"Butch, what the _he—"_

"Look, Brick, I'm not in the mood to get lectured—"

"_Lectured? _You get into a fight that big, and with _her—_"

"I haven't seen her in _years _and she shows up suddenly and you expect me to try and control myself—"

"I'd expect you to avoid her rather than march right up to her and—"

"I didn't march right up to her; I didn't even _know _it was her at first, Mitch and Seth dared me to make her date me, so I went up to talk to her and—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Brick stopped him, narrowing his eyes. "They dared you to _what?_

"Mitch and Seth and I made a bet to see if I could get a random girl to say that she loves me by the end of the month, and they chose Buttercup. I mean, I didn't know it was her at the time, but I found out after she took off her sunglasses and I spit on her. So, if I don't get her to say that she loves me by the end of the month, I owe Mitch and Seth each $50 and I have to dye my hair pink," he finished his explanation. "So, how're you gonna help me?"

Brick stared at Butch with utter disbelief and shook his head, walking down the beach past Butch. "Absolutely not. Call it off."

"_What?"_

Brick didn't stop to turn around, but kept walking. "You heard me, Butch!" Brick growled. "Call. It. _Off._"

Butch began to follow him across the sand, jogging to keep up with Brick's long (and not to mention, angry) strides. "I can't call it off! I'm not a wuss!"

Brick whipped around causing Butch to jump back in surprise. "You had better call it off, Butch. Because I swear, if I hear that you and," he took a moment to close his eyes and mumbled her name, "_Buttercup_ get into another fight again, she isn't gonna be the only one to kick your ass."

"Well, you know what? Mitch and Seth are gonna make me _kiss_ their asses if I give up, which is not happening. _Pink_, Brick. I'm gonna have to dye my hair _pink _if you make me give up_. _And I don't have _one _dollar, let alone a _hundred._"

"Well, I hope you like the color then. Cause you are _not _to go messing with her any more. I'm serious, Butch," Brick warned once more. They had arrived in front of a large beach house, painted a dark red. Brick walked halfway up the stairs, turned around to say, "Don't." to Butch, and continued up the stairs, opening the screen door and beginning to unlock the door.

"Sure, sure," Butch said, quietly enough so that Brick couldn't hear them. "I won't mess with her. I'll just date her instead."

"Um, hi," Bubbles said, forcing a smile. She cursed herself for not looking better. Her hair was still wet and salty from the ocean, and her halter top had been replaced with a bright pink T-shirt that she had purchased from a local gift shop with the phrase, "LOOKIN' FLY in LANAKAI" in black and neon yellow, blue, and green. Next to Rebekah's perfectly-put-together outfit, which was drawing the eye of every other boy in the restaurant, Bubbles looked—and felt—like a complete idiot.

"Hey! It's awesome to meet you," Rebekah said, smiling. Bubbles knew that she shouldn't, but she couldn't help but hate the girl. She normally wasn't one to have an instant dislike for people, but Rebekah was different. She was just _too _perfect, _and _she was dating Boomer—the two things shouldn't even be allowed! Bubbles pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind—_I am _not _jealous, _she repeated inside of her head. With tremendous effort, she managed to convince herself that Rebekah really was terribly, although a small piece of her brain continued to tell her the truth about her feelings.

The rest of the dinner carried on, leaving Bubbles feeling more and more awkward with each passing second. Rebekah was so nice and funny, and Bubbles kept a smile plastered on her face, but she felt like leaping up from the table and rushing out of the restaurant. The worst part of it all was watching her and Boomer sit so close, holding hands when they thought Bubbles wasn't watching, even sneaking a kiss once or twice. _Leave it to me, _Bubbles thought, _to fall for the Rowdyruff Boy who's already in a relationship._

The more she watched them, the more she wanted to wrench them apart and claim Boomer for her own. She felt like an idiot for falling so hard and so fast for the boy, especially the boy who used to torture her and her sisters, but he had obviously changed so much—if he hadn't, he would've attacked her right off the bat. Of course something else had gone wrong that would prevent her from moving on in the relationship, just like it always did…

But as Bubbles sat there, watching Rebekah feed Boomer a French fry out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but feel that this time should be different. _Would _be different. She wasn't going to just let Boomer go—she couldn't remember the last time she had gotten on so well with a boy, not to mention a boy who was as good looking as he was. And although Rebekah seemed nice—_and gorgeous, and smart, and funny, and perfect, _Bubbles subconsciously added—she decided not to give up on her dream of dating Boomer.

Soon after they finished their meals, the bill had been paid, and Bubbles was feeling ten times better, Boomer announced, "I'm gonna run to the bathroom, and then we can head on out of here," getting up from the table and walking away. Bubbles prayed that he would hurry up so that she wouldn't have to make too much uncomfortable small talk with Rebekah.

Rebekah turned to Bubbles, pushing her now empty glass aside. "So, how long have you known Boomer?"

"Since we were all about five," Bubbles answered, leaving out the fact that they had been constantly ripping up Townsville with their battles. "_We_ being my sisters and I & he and his brothers."

"So, kind of like family friends?" Rebekah asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Uh, something like that," Bubbles lied.

"So, you must be pretty close then?"

Bubbles hadn't been expecting a question like that, and felt a bit taken aback. "I mean, he left town a long time ago, so we haven't seen each other for years, but—"

"_Look_, _sweetheart_" Rebekah said, her sweet smile changing suddenly into a dark frown. "I know you think that you can show up and steal Boomer away from me, but I can tell you now that it's not happening."

"I would never try to—!"

"Oh, gimme a break. I see the way you look at him, and I'm telling you now to back off unless you wanna get hurt. You seem like a nice girl, Bubbles, and I wouldn't want to see you get hurt," she warned, stirring the leftover ice in her drink with her straw but never lifting her glare.

Bubbles took a moment to soak in everything she'd just heard. What just happened to the sweet, funny girl that had showed up to the restaurant? Bubbles lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "Are you threatening me?"

But Rebekah had no time to respond. Just then, Boomer returned to the table, snapping his cell phone shut as approached. "Sorry, ladies, just got a call from Brick freaking out about something. I've gotta head on home. Bubbles, do you need a ride?"

Bubbles could feel Rebekah's stare on her as she responded. "Ah, no, my house isn't that far away. I'll just walk."

"Are you sure? It's getting pretty late—"

"Bubbles is a big girl, Boomer," Rebekah cut in, glancing up at him and then back at Bubbles. "She knows how to take care of herself."

"Alright, then," Boomer said, still looking unsure. "I'll see you later, Bubbles—we should definitely hang out again sometime soon, gimme a call!"

"Yeah…alright…" Bubbles said, as if she was a shy little kid.

There was a moment of silence before Rebekah said, "Well, I should get going too. It was nice meeting you, Bubbles. Call me later, babe," she directed at Boomer, and leaned over to give him a lingering kiss on the lips, and then strutting out of the restaurant, all male eyes once again on her.

Boomer smiled and waved at Bubbles and also left, leaving Bubbles sitting alone at the table. The restaurant was slowly clearing out, but she remained glued to her seat, going over every word that had passed between her and Rebekah in her head. Bubbles had to admit that she was nervous—the angry Rebekah was nearly as terrifying as some of the monsters Bubbles had faced in Townsville—but she knew that she didn't want to give up. She refused to let a boy as perfect for her as Boomer slip through her fingers, all because of a catty girl. And besides, Rebekah wouldn't have struck out at Bubbles if she hadn't thought that Bubbles was a potential threat.

So, after sitting at the table in the middle of the restaurant for a while, replaying Rebekah's harsh words over and over again in her head, she could decide on one thing and one thing only: She was not giving Boomer up. _And this was war._

Blossom sat in the living room of the beach house, constantly glancing over at the clock, which now told her that it was almost eleven o' clock. After making a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some essentials, she had returned home to start making a plan for the next day. But soon, she had gotten completely side-tracked, and turned from being nervous about the next day to dreading it. A whole few hours with Brick, having him teach her something that she knew nothing about? She wondered why she had agreed to it in the first place, and tried to convince herself that it would be worth the information she would receive.

But now, sitting in front of the T.V., watching the local weather channel, Blossom simply wondered where her sisters were.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she heard bickering coming from just outside the door.

Buttercup's voice came first. "Bubbles, I'm telling you, I honestly don't care about whatever you're talking about! The point is—"

Bubbles interrupted her. "The point _is, _I need to tell you guys about what happened today! It started out like such a great day, and—"

The two burst through the front door, flipping on the switch and bathing the entire first floor in light. Buttercup had clearly been fighting—she had bruises covering her arms, and there was a long scratch under her right eye. Bubbles had clearly been out shopping—she was sporting a bright pink T-shirt that had been purchased from a gift shop in town.

"_Oh, you want to talk about bad days? _Because Bubbles, I just had a _terrible _one. The most terrible, idiotic, annoying—"

"Cute, funny—"

"Bubbles, I just told you, I don't want to hear about some stupid guy! Do you even know who I ran into today?"

"Butch?" Blossom answered from the couch, looking up at Buttercup, who raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, I ran into Brick. Obviously, though, we met on more peaceful terms than you two?"

"Blossom, I swear, he wants me to kill him," Buttercup moaned, plopping down in the chair next to the couch. "He's the biggest moron I've ever met. The thing that pissed me off the most though—the idiot walks into the restaurant and starts _hitting on me_ before he realized who I was, and then has the nerve to spit soda on me! So then I—"

Buttercup paused, and Blossom filled in the blank. "I already know what happened. The story was on the news earlier. 'Mysterious Fight Breaks Out in Downtown Lanakai—Attackers Nowhere to be Found?' The damage was _tremendous_, Buttercup—"

"It wasn't my fault! He started it, he brought it upon himself—"

"Oh, please. We're not in Kindergarten anymore, we're not even in Townsville. So you need to do your best to avoid Butch—"

"_That _I can do—"

"And control your temper." Before Buttercup could protest, Blossom turned to Bubbles, who sat down on the couch next to Blossom. "What did you do today, Bubbles?"

"Fell in love."

"Who this time?"

"…Buhmuh," Bubbles mumbled.

"_Who?_" Blossom said, leaning over so that she could hear Bubbles better. Buttercup had finally calmed down and found interest in the conversation.

"Boomer…" Bubbles said quietly, and seeing the rage on Buttercup's face, added quickly, "But he's really sweet and funny now, not to mention _really _cute, but he has a girlfriend named Rebekah who threatened to ruin me, so it probably won't happen anyways, but we hung out all day today and I really really _really_ like him so please don't be mad!"

Silence filled the room as the three sisters stared at one another. Finally, Buttercup shook her head in disbelief, stood up, and crossed the room to the stairs. "I'm going to bed. Wake me up when we this nightmare is over."

"_What do you mean, you hung out with her today?"_

"Brick, come on, chill out…"

"For real, dude, you're overreacting…"

"Overreacting? _Overreacting? You two are meeting up with Powerpuff sisters and you say I'm overreacting?" _Brick shouted, advancing on his two brothers.

"I told you, I didn't know it was her!" Butch argued, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. He and Boomer were playing racing video games while Brick stormed around the living room, yelling at the both of them. After Boomer had come home and awkwardly explained where he'd been today, what he'd been doing, and who he'd been with, Brick had gone on a rampage.

"_Shut-up, Butch! Nobody asked you!" _Brick roared, slapping him roughly in the back of the head.

"Technically, you did. You asked him if we said you were—"

"I'm serious, you two. I don't care what the situation is; you are _not _to associate with them. If I even _think _that you've been meeting up with them...They're just trouble. We don't need a repeat of Townsville, and I don't want to hear that you're causing trouble or 'hanging out' or anything with them."

"So, what did _you _do today, Brick?" Boomer asked nonchalantly, as to turn the conversation away from their meetings with Bubbles and Buttercup.

"I—"Brick started, and then abruptly ended his sentence, remembering what he had done today. He turned quickly and started making his way up the stairs, not noticing that Butch and Boomer were sharing a knowing glance. Before he had made it halfway upstairs, his two brothers shot up after him and pinned him to the stairs.

"You saw Blossom, didn't you?" Butch laughed, while Boomer wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Get _off _me, Butch! What I did today is none of your business, idiots," he said, forcing Butch up off of him and causing Butch to tumble down a few steps. He quickly got up and started stomping up the stairs again, pursued by his brothers.

"You did, didn't you? Do as he says, not as he does, Butch!" Boomer said, right on Brick's heels as he headed to the end of the hallway, where the silence of his bedroom was waiting for him.

"So what if I did?"

"So, don't give us crap about it if you did the same thing," Butch called, finally back on his feet and racing down the hallway to catch up with Brick and Boomer.

"What happened today between us wasn't fighting or flirting," Brick scowled. Brick reached out to grab onto the doorknob, but Boomer slid in front of him first, smiling. Brick turned around and found himself face to face with Butch, who wore the same sly smile.

"So, then, what _did _happen, hm, Brick?" Boomer asked, raising his eyebrows. Rather than answering, though, Brick simply grabbed Boomer by the shoulder, threw him into Butch causing them to collapse onto the floor, and slammed his bedroom door behind him, dreading the coming day.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: You'd better comment, because this chapter was **_**exhausting **_**to write, because **_**I am exhausted**_**. It's the middle of the night, but I really wanted to finish this chapter and post before I go to sleep. So, although my bed looked warm and inviting, I care enough about my readers that I would wear myself out just to give you something to read. So you better comment, because I sacrificed good sleep for you people.**

**But don't worry. The fact that I'm about to pass out from exhaustion won't affect the quality of this chapter! I still edited and revised and all those things.**

**In addition, I love British people.**

**DiSCLAiMER: Remember that **_**Blanket Disclaimer? **_**Yeah, just wanted to remind you of it. They get terribly redundant and annoying.**

Blossom sat up the next morning, after a nightmare in which she and her sisters were their younger selves fighting the present-day Rowdyruffs and had lost, and automatically groaned; today was the first day of her surfing lessons with Brick. She knew that neither of her sisters would notice her leaving—they were both probably going to stay in bed a little longer today, considering the awful day they'd had yesterday. Bubbles couldn't say anything because she was falling for Boomer, but if Buttercup found out about her surfing lessons with Brick, she'd try to kill Blossom. Bubbles and Boomer were friendly towards each other now, and she and Brick had been civil, but she knew Buttercup would eat her own toes off one by one before she even _tried _to get along with Butch.

However, Blossom didn't blame her for being so anti-Rowdyruff. She had to admit that it was going to be awful spending even a few hours with Brick after the rough past they'd had. And from what she'd experienced at the book store, having him help her learn to surf was going to be difficult—however good-looking (Blossom widened her eyes in surprise when this thought slipped in), the teenage Brick was a terribly rude, arrogant, and self-righteous know-it-all, and because Blossom had no idea how to surf at all, she was sure that he was going to be awful to her abut it, call her stupid and other names when she couldn't get things right, ugh—Blossom turned to look at the clock on her nightstand and gasped. I

She was nearly fifteen minutes late, and the fact that she (a) had no idea where exactly North Beach was and (b) still had yet to get out of bed made her all the more frantic. Leaping out of bed and grabbing her bathing suit, a towel, and her shoes, Blossom barely made time to brush her teeth or comb her long hair as she fled down the stairs, out the door, and began her attempt to find their meeting spot, praying that she wouldn't be too late.

"You're late," Brick frowned, crossing his arms as a frazzled Blossom clambered out of her car. He was standing on the beach, two surfboards waiting next to him, and had been clearly getting impatient when Blossom had driven up. "Forty-five minutes late."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes—he was acting like he was her _teacher!_—and breathed in. "Sorry. I woke up late."

"Whatever. Just don't let it happen again," he replied, turning his body away from her and grabbing one of the two surfboards that were jutting out of the sand. He handed it to her, taking the other for himself. "You ready?" he asked her, sticking the golden board under his arm. She nodded, trying not to show her nervousness, and the lesson began.

The pair approached the ocean, and Blossom could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they grew closer to the water. But just before they were standing in the dark, wet sand, Brick stopped, laid his board that in the sand, and turned to Blossom. "Lay down."

"Huh?" Blossom said, automatically regretting it for sounding so stupid.

"Put your board in the sand and lie down," he repeated. Blossom raised an eyebrow. "We're a bit short of the ocean, aren't we?"

"Clearly," Brick said, and began to repeat his instructions a third time when Blossom interrupted again.

"Well, don't we need to be in the water in order to do any surfing?"

Brick sighed. "Look, don't you want to learn how to surf?"

"Yes, but—"

"Well, then, just shut your mouth and—"

"Excuse me? You don't have to be so rude to me, it was just a question—"

"Yeah, but then you questioned my answer, and that's not what we're here for—"

"I don't even know why I'm here! I should've known that you would be so rude and arrogant-!"

"And I should've known that you wouldn't just go with the lessons. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but I knew that you wouldn't listen to a single instruction without asking stupid questions. You're here to learn how to _surf_, _not_ to talk back, although you're pretty damn good at that. So will you just shut up and listen to what I'm trying to tell you to do? Or are you too thick to even process what I'm saying?" Brick finished, glaring at Blossom with frustration. He didn't realize that his voice had risen to nearly a yell, so loud that even some nearby seagulls began to fly away.

Blossom had no problem raising her voice, however, and throwing her surfboard on the ground, yelled at Brick, "How dare you! I'm not gonna sit around, listening to you talk to me like I'm some kind of idiot! I knew this was a bad idea from the start!"

"Then you really are an idiot, because, babe, you're the one who suggested them in the first place," Brick said, smiling sarcastically at Blossom. Judging by the redness on her face, that line had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

"You are _unbelievable_! I'm out of here!" Blossom stormed back up the beach, not pausing to turn back. Brick continued to smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

Blossom stopped in her tracks and whipped around. "What?"

"This is how her first lesson was too!" Brick said. For a second Blossom could've sworn she saw a look of regret pass his face, but as suddenly as it was there, it was gone. "You'll be back tomorrow!"

Blossom shook her head in disgust. "Not likely."

She continued on to her car, quickly hopping in and shoving the keys into the ignition. She had been right from the beginning about Brick and his pompous attitude. She started to back her car up, watching him on the beach as he picked up the two surfboards from off the sand, and thought to herself: _The complete jerk! I can't believe he would dare talk to me like that! He hasn't changed a bit since he left Townsville, still as demanding and impolite as ever! _

And so, as Blossom turned her steering wheel to head away from the beach, the last thing she heard Brick say before she drove off was, "Same place tomorrow, eight o' clock! See you then!"

Bubbles felt completely at peace with the world.

Well, not completely.

Miley Cyrus was singing _Party in the U.S.A_, sending the catchy song streaming throughher ears. The sun was shining brightly, which was helping her achieve the perfect tan. The soft waves, the chirping seagulls, and the laughter of little kids building sandcastles and playing in the ocean made for perfect background music. Bubbles should feel great—she normally would—but the thought of her terrible experience with Rebekah wouldn't leave her mind.

How could someone who had seemed so sweet, so innocent, suddenly turn so sour in an instant? Sure, Bubbles hadn't liked Rebekah in the first place because she was all that stood between she and Boomer, but Rebekah's rage had made Bubbles both hate _and _fear her. Just the idea of crossing Rebekah sent chills sending up Bubbles' spine; the fact that she could trick anyone into thinking she was kind and then turn on them in a second made Bubbles sick to her stomach.

Not that she planned on letting Rebekah have what she wanted. Oh, no, Boomer was too perfect of a guy to just give him away to some sweet n' sour nut. No matter how scared Bubbles was or how intimidating Rebekah could be, she didn't plan on being scared away so easily. She and Boomer belonged together—they were both nice, liked animals, loved the sunrise, they even shared a favorite color since they were five—and he especially did not belong with someone who was a two-faced lunatic.

Bubbles had been so indulged in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that a big shadow was blocking her sunlight. Sliding off her sunglasses and frowning, she began to say sweetly, "Excuse me, but could you please move over a bit—"when she realized who it was that standing there.

"Hey," Boomer said, smiling. Bubbles heart leapt in her chest, and she tried to keep her cheeks from turning red—she hoped her blue and white bikini was working its magic.

"Hi! Here, sit down," she responded quickly, and sat up, patting the spot next to her on her chaise.

Boomer continued to stand for a moment, looking around as if nervous about something. He leaned next to her ear and whispered, "Technically, I'm not supposed to be talking to you—Brick's orders—but I guess five or ten minutes won't make us break out into battle."

_He's sneaking around to talk to me! He's willing to risk it! That has to be a good sign! Eep! _Boomer sat down next to Bubbles on the lawn chair as she rushed to take her headphones out, stuffing them into her bag.

"So, enjoying the sun?" he said, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah, it's really nice," Bubbles said, then, wanting to make good conversation added, "Especially when you tan, like, religiously like I do."

Bubbles mentally kicked herself—_dumbest thing to say ever! I totally sounded shallow!_—but Boomer just laughed. "Yeah, the sun is always really nice out here, it hardly ever rains."

Bubbles prayed that they could get off of the subject of the weather—_Ugh, lamest and most awkward topic in the world, by far. Who actually talks about the weather?_—when Boomer said, "By the way, I had a really awesome time yesterday."

"Me too, everything here is really great," Bubbles commented. _Nice one, nice one,_ she thought to herself, _complementing his town definitely gives me bonus points!_

"So, how did you get along with Rebekah?" Boomer asked. _Oh, no._

"Um…well…"Bubbles tried to find a way to nicely declare that she hated Rebekah, but Boomer seemed to read the look on her face before she could even open her mouth to respond.

He frowned. "Didn't like her much, I'm guessing?"

"It's not that, I just—she just-we didn't really—yeah pretty much," Bubbles gave up, not able to find the right words to say. She only hoped that Boomer wouldn't be too mad or disappointed about it. Although he only nodded, he was obviously deep in thought.

"You know what?" Boomer said, the smile suddenly leaping back onto his face. "I bet you two would get along great if you just spent some time getting to know each other."

"Yeah! ...What?" Bubbles inquired, her eyebrows pinching together in confusion.

"Yeah!" Boomer insisted, smiling even more widely. "I know if you two just spent a day together, you would be friends; if you just knew Rebekah a little better, I can tell that you would see that you have so much in common!"

"Totally," Bubbles agreed half-heartedly, muttering under her breath so that Boomer couldn't hear, "if I were an insane, fake nut job."

"So, how about it?" Boomer asked her, snapping Bubbles back into attention.

"Huh?" She felt warmth spreading over her cheeks as she realized that Boomer had been talking the whole time and she hadn't been paying attention to a word of it.

"You, Rebekah, and I should spend one day of fun together, and I swear you two will get along great afterwards! Come on, Bubbles, it'll be awesome!" Boomer pleaded, putting his arm around Bubbles and shaking her a bit.

She was so flushed at having his arm around her that she hadn't even noticed that she'd agreed until he was saying, "Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow, say noon, and we'll head out! I already have the whole day planned out in my head!"

Boomer was waving and walking away before Bubbles could even object. She sighed, slapping herself on her forehead, placing her pillow in her lap and screaming into it—the things she did for love!

The sun was setting over the horizon as Buttercup headed out of the house and onto the beach, soccer ball in hand. Her sisters were inside, both acting odder and more annoying than usual. Blossom was reading and flipping the pages furiously like the book had hurt her somehow. She had come in early that morning, her face red from anger.

"What crawled up _your _pants?" I asked her, chowing down on the Pop-Tart that I'd just removed from the toaster.

She shook her head vigorously and growled, "I've just been learning to surf with the biggest moron in all of Hawaii! He's just the same as he was when they left!"

Buttercup nearly choked on her food. "You're not telling me you were just surfing with a Rowdyruff—?"

"Yes, Buttercup, I was surfing with Brick, and I don't need any crap about it from you! I don't plan on seeing him again any time soon—in fact, I wouldn't mind it if I never even heard his name again!" she declared, storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Buttercup didn't dare talk back.

Bubbles, on the other hand, was moping about in the kitchen, trying to prepare something that would suffice as dinner. Buttercup was more surprised about her attitude, knowing that just a few hours earlier she had come back from one of her favorite activities—tanning. The day was perfect for baking your skin three shades darker, so she couldn't see why Bubbles was acting so depressed.

So, to get away from the tenseness of the house, Buttercup was heading down to the beach to kick around the soccer ball. Just because she'd had an awful day yesterday, didn't mean she had to have one today.

Buttercup was strolling down the beach, kicking the soccer ball as she went, passing by only a few people who were riding their bike or walking a dog. The sky was beginning to grow a darker orange when she passed by someone who looked oddly familiar. Someone that she hadn't seen in years, but who didn't look much different than from before…

She whipped around to look at the boy who'd passed by, hoping that they hadn't gone too far, but much to her surprise, the boy had already turned to look back at her. She raised her eyebrows and smiled, and called out to him in disbelief: "_Mitch?"_

"_Buttercup_?" he answered, walking closer to her. They both sped up until they were hugging—they used to be best friends before Mitch's grandma had earned enough money so that she could move the two of them out of their Townsville trailer home, which had always been her dream. The friends had believed that they would never see each other again, so the fact that they were both in the same place was amazing to the both of them.

"I can't believe you're here! I can't believe this is happening!" Buttercup said, ecstatic. This without a doubt made up for all the trouble Butch had been yesterday.

"I can't believe _you're _here! What are you doing out here?" he asked, his expression of excitement matching hers.

"My sisters and I are vacationing here, our beach house is just over there, and they were being lame so I came out here to kick around the soccer ball and—wow! You're here!" she exclaimed, her grin broadening. The years had certainly been kind to Mitch, and although he looked completely different than when they were kids, he also looked exactly the same; he still had messy brown hair, the same mischievous smile, and today, was even wearing the same _Mitch Rocks _shirt that she had come to know and love.

"Seriously lucky, right?" he said, and, motioning to her soccer ball, added, "Well, come on. Don't be a ball hog."

Buttercup obliged, kicking the ball over to Mitch, who caught it easily with his foot and bounced it on his ankle before passing it back. The two spent a while catching up, talking about all they had missed in each other's lives as the sun began to lower on the blue ocean. It felt just like old times, and Buttercup couldn't remember being able to smile or laugh (or curse, for that matter) with anyone else like she could with Mitch. The sky was already dark blue and purple and a few stars had started to dot the sky when she heard her name being called far in the distance.

"I've gotta get going, Blossom's calling me," she said, using her foot to kick the soccer ball up into her arms.

"Really? I don't hear anything," said Mitch, raising an eyebrow.

"Superhuman hearing, you know that," Buttercup explained, grinning.

Mitch smiled slyly and crossed his arms. "So, little Buttercup still has a bedtime, hm?"

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "No," she said, "but I don't even try and argue with Blossom anymore. My ears can't handle it."

Mitch laughed. "Alright, then, I'll let you go. We have to hang out again before you leave though; life just hasn't been the same without you to egg houses with."

"I bet you've found plenty of delinquent friends to hang around with," Buttercup quipped, giving him one last hug before passing him and heading in the direction of her house. "See ya later, Mitch."

"Adios, BC!"

Before Buttercup could even walk thirty feet away, though, Mitch called out to her once more. "Hey! Buttercup, wait!"

"What?" she called back. She could hear Blossom continuing to call in the distance.

"Want to come to a party?"

"Have I ever _not _wanted to come to a party?" Buttercup retorted matter-of-factly.

"I'll text you the address, its tomorrow at 7-ish!"

"Sounds awesome! I'll see you then, though, Blossom's gonna kick my ass if I don't hurry up!" she called, beginning to walk faster.

"See you then!" Mitch slowly disappeared from sight, walking away into the dark night.

_Best vacation ever? I think so_! Buttercup thought to herself. As she sprinted up the beach, she couldn't help but smile to herself. So, what, her vacation had started off terribly? She was in Hawaii, she had seen Mitch again for the first time in years, and she was invited to a party that was sure to be great! The only way this vacation could get any better was if the Professor called and told them that he had won the lottery. Buttercup was beaming, and even did a little spin as she ran, now leaving a green trail of light streaming behind her as she approached the beach house, where a red-faced, angry Blossom was waiting impatiently for her on the front steps.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Everybody check out a fic I did for **Harry Potter, **its called **"Dancing Away the Pain"**, it's basically narration for the dancing scene between Harry and Hermione in _Deathly Hallows Part Two_. I think it's cute, check it out!

(**Link:** .net/s/7173651/1/Dancing_Away_the_Pain)

I was reading _It's Better to Have Loved and Lost _by An Aspiring Author, who gave me a great idea—I want at least 15 reviews before I give you the next chapter! I know you guys can do it! And like her, I'm going to provide some questions at the end of the chapter for you to answer in the reviews. Just remember that your feedback gives me **(a)** ideas** (b) **room for improvement and **(c)** motivation to keep writing.

Enjoy!

Mitch was hanging out at home on his couch, still feeling excited after seeing Buttercup and watching YouTube on his iPod while the TV played some mindless MTV loudly in the background, when the doorbell rang, barely audible over the blasting television. Mitch lazily sat up to answer the door, dragging his feet across the floor as he went.

Whoever was standing outside of his door must have been unbelievable impatient, because the doorbell was ringing incessantly now. "I'm coming! Jesus," Mitch shouted as he unlocked the door, and was immediately sent flying into the wall. Butch had his hand around Mitch's throat and his face was turning red with anger.

"Of all the stupid girls in this entire city," he growled, and then shouted, "_You had to choose the one who hates me."_

Mitch, who was struggling to pry Butch's hands away from his throat, feebly gasped, "What?"

"_Buttercup, you idiot! I'm talking about Buttercup!" _Butch yelled into his face, and then pulling Mitch by his collar onto his feet, started stormily pacing back and forth. Mitch's face had come close to growing purple, and he sucked in huge amounts of air to refill his lungs.

"Wait," said Mitch when he'd recovered from the initial shock. The room was spinning and his head was throbbing, but he managed to let out a loud laugh. "That girl was _Buttercup?_"

"Yes, it was Buttercup! What other girl do you know that has super powers like that?"

"Oh, Seth and I walked away like three minutes after you went inside. We saw this girl who looked exactly like Megan Fox, and it's not like we could pass up an opportunity like that—"

"Do you think I really give a damn right now?" Butch exclaimed, and shoved Mitch back about three feet. "You've got to pick a new girl for the bet, Buttercup hardly even counts as a girl."

Mitch stood looking at Butch for a moment, and then a sly smile crept onto his face. "So are you admitting that you can't get just any girl you want?"

"Were you listening to me at all just now? _Buttercup. Townsville. A Powerpuff Girl. Here. Hates me and my brothers._ You _have _to call off the bet, or at least choose a new girl."

"And there you have it, Buttercup is a girl. So, by trying to get out of this one, you're admitting that you really _can't _get every girl."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"I so _can _get every girl!" Butch continued to argue. Mitch just smiled.

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can!"

"No, _you can't."_

"_Yes, I can!"_

"Can't."

"Can."

"Can't."

"_Can_."

"Can't."

"CA-!"

Before Butch could finish his comeback, Mitch interrupted calmly. "Listen, Butch, how about this. I'll change the bet—but, I won't change the girl. Because I know just how much Buttercup happens to hate you (and believe me, I know—she used to tell me all the time), instead of getting her to use the _L _word, all you need is a simple kiss. _But, _because of that generous offer, I'm shortening your time to three weeks, starting tomorrow._"_

"That's just as impossible—!" Butch started before Mitch shook his head.

"Shake on it or forfeit," Mitch said, holding out his hand for Butch to grab.

Butch assessed the situation. He couldn't give up the bet, obviously, but kissing Buttercup…? The thought nearly made him throw-up. Of course, technically, Buttercup had kissed him when they were still little kids, but that had been only to destroy. But this was much different; if Buttercup actually ended up liking him—he shuddered. It couldn't happen, could it?

Then again, he was Butch Jojo. He had charmed even the toughest eggs to crack, seen every type of girl—prep, Goth, sporty, hippie, scene, nerd, etc.—what made Buttercup so different from the rest, really? Other than the fact that she had super powers and a terrible past with Butch, obviously; but if Butch could just trick her, even if just for a little while, into thinking that he had changed, maybe, just maybe he could get that kiss…It would take endless time, which he didn't have, and endless effort, which he never had to use before, but Butch felt like if he could push just the right buttons, he would be able to walk around town flanked by two pink-haired freaks in under a month.

"Deal," Butch agreed, grasping Mitch's hand and shaking it vigorously.

"Good," Mitch said as his smile broadened, "because I invited her to the party tomorrow. You can start your work there."

"You wha-?"

"Annnnnnd adios!" Mitch said quickly, swinging the door open, shoving Butch out, and locking the door again all in one swift movement before he could get strangled again.

Blossom took a deep breath in and parked her car, closing her eyes for a moment and trying to figure out exactly _why _she'd decided to come back. She'd woken up that morning and made the decision to swallow her pride and learn how to surf—yesterday maybe she'd overreacted a bit. She would have gotten just as annoyed as he did if she had been in his situation. And as much as she hated letting Brick know he was right, she knew that his gloating would be worth it if she left knowing how to surf.

But, as she stepped out of her car & saw Brick sitting, two surfboards next to him like the previous day, on the sand, her confidence slowly started to fizzle out.

Just as she had known he would, the moment she was within a ten-feet range of him, Brick started to laugh. "Should I even bother saying 'I told you so'? Didn't I tell you that they all come back the next day?"

"Look, Brick, I'm..." It took Blossom a moment to utter out the word, "sorry...for not listening to instructions and storming off like that. And if you would, I was wondering if you'd continue to give me surfing lessons," she finished. Brick just stood up and smiled at her smugly. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"And you won't question anything I tell you to do?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Not unless you tell me to," Blossom responded, crossing her arms.

"And you won't give any suggestions or suggestions?"

"Not a one."

"Alright then, let's try this again. Grab your surfboard, bring it right down there, and lay down," Brick instructed, and Blossom obeyed without a word.

The rest of the lesson flew by easily—when it came down to it, all surfing was about was balance, focus, and remembering to not be afraid. Brick had Blossom practice on the sand first, having her focus on using the correct arm movements and then standing up and maintaining her balance while he rocked the board back and forth. After about thirty minutes of this, when Brick paid Blossom her first "compliment" by telling her that that was "alright for a beginner". Soon after that, they had been out in the water, and Blossom had ridden her first wave for about 10 seconds before wiping out and floating back to shore.

Brick surfed back to shore and walked onto the sand with ease, extending a hand to Blossom, who ignored it but didn't slap it away like she had in the bookstore. Brick chuckled as she got to her feet, smiling. "Alright. Not that bad. You're almost better than Amy after her first..."

Brick's voice trailed off as his smile faded and the color leaving his face, and he suddenly picked up his surfboard and began rushing up the sand, away from the water.

"Who's Amy?" Blossom asked. Although she could tell that she was surfing in dangerous waters with Brick by asking the question—clearly he hadn't meant to let that slip—her curiosity got the best of her.

Brick swung back around with a harsh glare on his face. "_Forget I said anything._"

"I was just curious-"

"Didn't I tell you not to ask questions? I _said _forget about it," Brick continued to stare at her menacingly, and then, after a short pause, muttered, "I have to go."

And with that, Brick shot up into the sky, leaving behind him a trail of red and a pink-eyed girl who planned on finding out exactly who this 'Amy' girl was, and why she seemed to be like Brick's only weakness.

Bubbles was in shock. She was shocked, and scared, and freaking out.

All she came her for was a nice drink. A nice cappuccino, with cinnamon and whipped cream. But instead, she was getting the surprise of her life.

Not 5 booths away, was Rebekah, who hadn't noticed Bubbles sitting too far away. She was wearing an outfit similar to the one she had donned yesterday—maybe her shorts seemed shorter though because of the situation, or maybe her red tank top seemed tighter because of what was happening.

But she wasn't alone. Oh, no. She was with a boy, and a very alarming boy indeed.

A boy with long, dark brown hair.

A boy with brown eyes to match.

To the average person, nothing would have been alarming about this boy.

But to Bubbles, he was very alarming indeed.

Because this boy was sitting close to Rebekah in their booth next to the window.

And as Bubbles watched, hidden behind a laminated menu and praying that what she thought would happen wouldn't, the boy leaned over, and, grinning, kissed Rebekah right on her lips.

**REVIEW QUESTIONS:**

Do you think Mitch's new bet was fair?

How do you think Blossom and Brick's surfing lesson went? Any ideas about who Amy might be?

Cliffhanger! What do you think Bubbles will do after seeing Rebekah cheating on Boomer?

How are you enjoying the story so far?

What story (Reds, Blues, Greens) is the most interesting? Who is your favorite character/couple?

There! Now you have no reason not to review! Remember, **15 reviews before I update again!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: **See, that wasn't that hard! I think I'm going to keep doing the Review Requirements (RR) from now on, they seem to work well. I swear that if you keep it up, I'll post within the next 24 hours from the time I get the last required review!

For this next chapter, I'm going to raise the requirement just a tad—to 20 reviews—but only because this chapter is long, and I think you're going to enjoy it more than a bit.

Enjoy! **This is the longest chapter yet!**

Bubbles held in a gasp, and continued to watch Rebekah's exchange with the boy in shock. _This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening, _she repeated in her head over and over again, blinking constantly to make the image in front of her go away and feeling like screaming when it wouldn't. She _knew _that Rebekah wasn't as dedicated to Boomer as she'd acted—she was just too crazy!

And now that Bubbles had seen her cheating, she wasn't sure what to do! Should she tell Boomer? Would Boomer even believe her? No, probably not. He was too in love with Rebekah to see past her rouge. Boomer may have been sweet, good-looking and funny, but he wasn't exactly born with an abundance of brains—he'd been the least intelligent of the Rowdyruff trio since their Townsville days. Besides, Bubbles couldn't even prove what she was seeing; her camera phone had, of course, run out of battery just a few minutes before Rebekah had arrived in the small coffee shop.

The alternative to telling Boomer was to confront Rebekah, which Bubbles dreaded after their last one-on-one chat. And who could blame her—Rebekah was positively insane. That, added to the fact that Bubbles was terrible with confrontation, equaled a recipe for disaster. But, considering the other option could potentially ruin her newly found friendship with Boomer, she decided that talking to Rebekah when she got the chance was her only good option (good being a relative term, of course).

Bubbles saw her window of opportunity when Rebekah excused herself to go to the bathroom—probably to reapply her lipstick, of which a light trace could be seen on the boy's own lips. Hiding behind her menu so that Rebekah wouldn't notice her as she passed by, Bubbles leaped up from the table as soon as Rebekah had disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Expecting to make a dramatic appearance and surprise Rebekah when she came out of her stall, Bubbles quickly but quietly swung open the bathroom door and darted in, automatically coming face to face with the scowling culprit herself. Bubbles gasped in surprise and then quickly regained her composure, crossing her arms and putting a smile on her face as if she was happy to see Rebekah when she was really trying to make herself intimidating. "Hey, Rebekah," Bubbles said brightly.

Rebekah's frown did not move. "Oh, cut the crap, Blondie, we both know why you're here."

Bubbles was taken aback, but tried not to show it. "What are you talking about?"

Rebekah's face flickered with worry for a moment, wondering if Bubbles really _hadn't _discovered her secret, but the worry was quickly replaced with an even fiercer glare. "Would you shut up? You and I both know you came here to talk to me about my friend."

"_Friend_, hm? He seemed a bit more than _friendly _to me. In fact, I don't know any friends who shove their tongues down each others throats," Bubbles finished, her face fading into a grimace. She felt like giving herself a big pat on the back for thinking so quickly on her feet. "Has Boomer ever met this friend, I wonder?"

"No, he hasn't, and he won't. And do you know why, Bubbles?" Rebekah inquired, her voice quiet and sickeningly sweet. She began to circle Bubbles, giving her intimidation points and making her seem like a shark.

"Why?" Bubbles asked, feeling a threat coming on. Her eyes grew wide.

"Because, who will Boomer believe? Me, the girl he's been dating for months now, who adores him so much, who talks on the phone with him every day, who ends almost every night with him telling him lies like 'I love you?'"

The idea of her telling Boomer lies like that made Bubbles want to cry for him, but Rebekah wasn't done yet: "Or will he believe you, the girl who he hasn't seen for nine years, who he just met again two days ago, who used to beat him, his brothers, and both his parents into the ground? You've got no chance, sweetie! So you might as well give up—he'll never believe you. And if you even _try _to tell Boomer about what you saw today, I might just have to let it slip that you like him and are trying to get rid of me."

Bubbles eyes were prickling with tears, but she managed to say, "You wouldn't do it."

Rebekah just smiled a wicked grin and, lowering her voice to almost a whisper, said, "Why not? _I've been cheating on him for months; I can clearly get away with anything_."

And with that, Rebekah pushed past Bubbles and swept out of the bathroom, leaving a hopeless Bubbles with tears streaming from her eyes and a score of **Rebekah: **1. **Bubbles: **0.

Buttercup, dressed in ripped black shorts, a green tank top, and a jacket with the word **POW **printed on it like the word appeared in comic books (with her hood up on top of her head, as usual), rang the doorbell to Mitch's house, not even worrying about whether it was the right address—she could see all the signs of partying coming up the street. There were a million cars parked up and down the road, and as she was approaching the house she saw a couple dart out of a side door and around the side of the house, laughing. There were colored lights flashing in the windows on the right side of the house, and on the left side, strobe lights that were making her dizzy. There was loud rock music coming from inside—she could feel it vibrate in her very soul as she continued to stand on the front porch. Finally, after waiting almost a minute for someone to open the door, she decided that it must already be open and went ahead inside.

It took all of her efforts to squeeze through the door and into the house; there were people occupying every space in the room. She maneuvered between bodies, guys staring at her everywhere she turned, and searched for a familiar face until she finally ran right into Mitch, who smiled and gave her a hug, accidentally elbowing somebody in the ribs with a quick, "Oops."

"Awesome party," Buttercup complimented, trying her best to keep her footing and remain in one place. Like the party-goers were waves, she felt as if she were being moved around as if she were in the ocean.

"Thanks, but you know," Mitch said, "I think it'll be even better when you see who decided to come."

"Who?" Buttercup asked, raising an eyebrow. Mitch tried to contain his laughter when he saw the man of the hour darting through the crowd towards them, his eyes only on Mitch and not the girl Mitch was talking to.

"Mitch, dude, Joey just threw up all over the—" Butch was beginning to say just as Buttercup turned around.

"_This idiot, Mitch? Why the hell would I be happy to see him?_" Buttercup growled, her fists clenching.

"Mitch, I thought you were joking when you said you invited her," Butch groaned, earning a glare from Buttercup.

"You got a problem with me bein' here?" she said, eying him angrily. By this point people were starting to turn and stare, some looking nervous and others looking hopeful that a fight would soon break out.

"No, clearly I'm ecstatic about your special appearance," he spat at her sarcastically, and Buttercup advanced, her intentions clear.

Mitch quickly rushed over to stand between the two annoyed teens. "Listen, you two, let's just put aside our differences for one night! We're all friends here!"

Buttercup scoffed. "Oh, please, Mitch. You just don't wanna see your friend Butchie Boy over here get his ass beat!"

The entire crowed "Oooh'd" at that one, and Butch just laughed loudly. "Just get over yourself, babe. I wouldn't lose to a little girl. You couldn't beat me in an arm wrestling match, much less a fight."

The crowd let out chuckles of approval again, and Buttercup stepped up so that she was right in Butch's face. "I'll bet you I can."

Butch smiled calmly. "Fine," he agreed, and taking Buttercup's chin in his hand, added, "but only cause you're so pretty."

Buttercup slapped his hand away, fuming, and everyone around them started to move in preparation for the match. Someone pulled up a small folding table and chairs from another room. All around her, she could hear some people starting to make bets, and although she expected most of them to be on her, they were all going to Butch! She would teach them to waste their money betting on weak idiots. A plan formulating her head, Buttercup sat down across from Butch at the table, joining hands with him as everyone gathered around, rock music pounding so loudly in her ears that she thought her head might explode.

Mitch pulled up a third chair and put one of his hands on top of theirs. "Alright, kiddies, play nice. Winner gets eternal glory and bragging rights. Ready?"

Both raven-haired teens nodded. "And...GO!"

Buttercup decided to play weak at first. She didn't let Butch drag her too quickly, but she sure pretended to struggle, letting her hand grow closer and closer to the table. She knew she would have to time everything just right, or else he might slam her hand down too quickly for her to retaliate. So, just as the crowd was beginning to laugh, and her hand was only an inch from the table, she summoned her inner strength, and slammed Butch's hand back so hard that the table collapsed, sending the boy off of his chair and onto the floor.

The whole crowd was silent in shock for a moment, but then everyone began cheering loudly. The rustle of money being dealt out to those who had had the sense to bet on Buttercup was heard, and she stood up from the table again, feeling victorious. She squatted down so that she was face to face with Butch, who was trying to figure out what had just happened. "You forgot that while you've been living it up in Hawaii for nine years, I've still been out, saving Townsville, so I'm not out of practice."

"So, Butchie Boy," she said, taking his distraught face in her hands as he had done to her. "Who's the cute one now?"

Butch looked Buttercup up and down and the smirk that Buttercup had grown to hate spread again across his face. "I'd say still you."

However, Buttercup had no time to lash out at him, because as soon as the word "you" had left his mouth, the unmistakable sound of sirens had grown loud outside of Mitch's house. A few moments later, police officers were swarming the house shouting and grabbing teens with alcohol in hand, and there were party-goers running left and right trying to escape.

Butch, acting on purely impulse, grabbed Buttercup's hand and yelled to her, "Let's get outta here!"

Without stopping to swipe her hand away, Buttercup quickly helped Butch up and the two started to run. Dodging through all the confusion of screaming teenagers and avoiding detection by any police officers, they made it out of the side door that only a few other people had managed to escape from. Just as they thought they were home-free, an officer behind them yelled, "Stop! Don't move!"

"Keep running!" Butch shouted to Buttercup, noticing that both of them had started to laugh from all of the excitement. Behind them, the policeman was still calling out after them, but his voice was growing fainter and fainter. The two were taking off down the street now with just 4 other pairs of people, and Mitch's house had left their sight.

As soon as they thought that they had escaped, though, two more police cars came flying down the street. One continued down the road to Mitch's house, but the other made an impressive U-turn and came soaring towards them. The other pairs scrambled away, towards the backyards of total strangers, but Butch and Buttercup continued to run.

The policeman who was driving rolled down his windows, and called out to them, "Stop running & turn yourselves in, and you will not be punished!"

Buttercup laughed and yelled back to him, "Like we haven't heard that one before!"

"You leave us no choice then!" The car sped up and drove past them, and swerved onto the grass to block their paths. If they had continued running, any normal teens would have collided right into the car.

However, this pair were not normal teens. So as the car came closer and closer, Butch and Buttercup exchanged a knowing glance, and each counted "One...two...three!" in their heads. "JUMP!" Butch yelled, and the two leaped into the air and onto the other side of the car.

As soon as they landed, the two kept sprinting away, but Buttercup couldn't help but turn around to glance at them. She laughed as she realized that the two policemen were bewildered and frozen in their seats, and she and Butch turned and ran around the corner, and out of the neighborhood. They kept up their run down a long sidewalk for just a few minutes to put enough distance between they and the cops, and ran until they had reached a busy street. Across the street was a crowded shopping center, where they knew they would be hidden and safe.

Butch slammed his hand down on the crosswalk button, and he and Buttercup both leaned down on their knees to catch their breath. They turned to look at each other at the same time, and after a moment of silence both began to laugh until they were out of breath again and until their sides were in stitches. They laughed as they crossed the crosswalk, and as they walked down the streets, and until people were staring at them as if they'd gone mad. And finally, when they'd sat down on a park bench a couple blocks away did they calm down, tears streaming from both of their eyes.

"You know what?" Buttercup said, pulling one knee up to her chest and turning to look at Butch with a smile. "You're not half bad. Well, you are at arm wrestling, but other than that, not bad."

"Thanks," Butch said, "I think."

They sat quietly for a minute, watching people pass them by, some looking at them with jealousy and thinking they were a couple. One might think they were, the way they were laughing with each other. Butch had almost forgotten completely that he was supposed to be wooing Buttercup into kissing him, until she had stood up from where she was sitting next to him.

"Well," she said, combing her fingers through her hair, which had become disheveled with all of the sprinting they had done. "I'm gonna get going, I guess. I'll, uh, see you around."

He stood up too. "Yeah, see you around." He reached out and they shook hands, parting this time as nothing short of friends.

"Just tell why you keep calling me Amy!" Blossom argued as Brick stormed up the beach again, just like he had the week before. After they had finished their lesson, he had slipped up and called Blossom "Amy" again, and she was intent on figuring out who she was this time.

"I told you not to bring it up again!" Brick warned her, turning around to glare at her.

"But, you did tell me that I could ask one question today!" Blossom shot back. It was the truth. At the beginning of today's lesson, Brick had told Blossom that she could ask one question today, as a reward for listening so well during their last lesson.

"Any question other than that one! Any other question, and I swear I'll answer it," he said with a sigh, pulling his red shirt back over his head.

Blossom thought for a moment and then decided on her question. "Fine then. Who is she?"

Brick opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it again, knowing that he would be fighting a losing battle. "She was a girl I was in a relationship with, I taught her how to surf, and that is all you need to know."

"You can't just leave it at that! You freak out every time you accidentally say her name!" Blossom shouted at Brick, who had turned his back and started retreating again. "I don't see why you need to be so secretive about it if she's just a girl! It's not a big deal!"

That was when Brick completely lost his cool. "Would you shut-up! You don't have to know everything, you nosy idiot! You don't know anything about what happened, and you never will! If you would just stop trying to get into people's business so much, maybe you wouldn't come off as such an annoying know-it-all! You haven't changed one bit since Townsville!"

Blossom stood there, shocked and clearly trying her best not to cry. "I was only trying to help. You just look so miserable when you mention her..."

"I am miserable! But you can't do a damn thing about it! So just stay out of my business and stay out of my life!" Brick roared, throwing Blossom the angriest look he could possibly muster.

Blossom was silent for a moment, and then whispered, "Fine." She calmly walked up the beach towards her car, keeping her head down as she passed Brick so that he couldn't see her red eyes. She rapidly whipped out her keys, jumped into the car, and started the ignition.

It took Brick a moment to regain his calm, and then found himself rushing towards Blossom's car. He had, although he would never admit it to her, grown to like their surfing lessons. Blossom reminded him so much of Amy, who he had gotten along with perfectly. He decided that if Mojo and Him hadn't turned he and Blossom against each other so early on, they could have been friends, or even more...

These thoughts sent him dashing towards her car as she began to back out of her parking spot. "Blossom, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you—"

Blossom held down the brakes for a moment, giving her enough time to look up at Brick, say, "It's alright," and then went on to drive away, leaving Brick alone on the beach with two empty surfboards, just like Amy had.

**Oooh, lots of drama in this chappie! Alright, here are some questions for you to answers in your reviews! Remember, the requirement has raised to 20 reviews!**

**QUESTIONS:**

What do you think Bubbles will do about Rebekah? Do you think she'll tell Boomer, try to get him to catch her in the act, etc.?

If Bubbles _does _tell Boomer, how do you think he will react? Do you think he'll believe her, or Rebekah?

How did you like Mitch's party scene? Did you originally think that Buttercup or Butch were going to win? Who do you think should've?

Whose side are you on after the fight at that last surfing lesson? Brick's or Blossom's?

Whose story do you like the best after this chapter? Reds, Blues, or Greens?

How do you like the story so far?

What do you think is going to happen next?


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Right...I'm ashamed of myself. I apologize, apologize, APOLOGIZE for not working on this story for months, and leaving things at a HUGE cliffhanger. That wasn't right of me as an author, and I'm sorry.******

**I won't be doing those dumb Review Requirements anymore; if people who like what I've done with my story want to review, it should be an option, not a rule. I'll still leave little questions that I would love for you to answer, but you don't have to if you don't want to. Also, I can't (a) expect you to want to review after I've left you hanging for so long or (b) continue to promise you that I will "post within the next 24 hours of getting the umpteenth review!", because I can't do that sometimes because I have school and Tumblr and laziness too (Fanfiction authors-they're just like you!)******

**Soon, I'm going to go back and edit a few of the previous chapters-I had to reread them all to remember everything that has gone on within the story (that's bad, I know) & I've found some terribly embarrassing spelling/grammar/first-third person errors! Bah, they're pretty bad.******

**So, I'm sorry if you're angry or upset that I've left you for a while-I'll try my best to post as often as I can. I have finals and rehearsals this week though, and I won't be getting home until about six every night, but I'll do my best. I hope you'll stick around to hear the rest of the story!**

**-x-**  
>Butch strolled casually down the sidewalk, still wondering if what had happened only a few days ago at Mitch's had been something he should like, or something he should regret. When it came down to it, Buttercup really wasn't as awful as he'd remembered. She still had a short temper and was argumentative, stubborn and rude, but she was funny, and she was exciting, and she put up a pretty good fight for a girl. Butch didn't want to, but he decided that he was starting to like Buttercup; rather than really embracing the fact, though, he decided instead that he would use it to his advantage. If he liked her, even a little bit, it would make kissing her easier on him when the time came.<p>

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked into the different store windows as he passed them. A gift shop, a surf shop, a shoe store, the arcade...Butch did a double take as he saw, inside, a sole person. Unable to control slapping a devilish smile onto his face, Butch went into the building and approached the girl furiously playing a street racing game.

"Hey, sunshine," he said, slipping into the next game over.

Without even looking out of the corner of her eye, Buttercup could tell who it was and mumbled a quick, "Hey", never losing focus on her game. He sat there for a moment, watching her play, until he got bored and shoved her steering wheel, making her swerve off course and move from first to last place.

"Asshole!" she shouted at him, finally turning her head and glaring at him. "What was that for?"

"I could drive better than that in real life, so it was getting hard for me to watch you," he explained matter-of-factly.

"I was in first place!" she exclaimed, motioning her arms at the screen where the race had finished. "And the day you drive better than me is the day that..."

Butch heard a loud knocking, then, and swung the door open to find opportunity standing outside; the perfect moment for making a move had finally arrived. Before Buttercup could think of something to say, he jumped in: "The day I take you on a date?"

Buttercup looked puzzled by his fill-in, but nodded. "Exactly."

"Well, then, let's make a deal," Butch said, reaching into his pockets and digging around for a few quarters. "If I beat you in this race, you go on a date with me tomorrow night. If you win, then I'll dye my hair pink in a few weeks."

(The best part about the bet was that if Buttercup did win, he would probably have to dye his hair pink in a few weeks anyway.)

"What the hell kind of bet is that?" she retorted, rejecting the quarters as he held them out to her.

"A great one," he answered, and then added so that she wouldn't decline, "Unless you think you'll lose."

"Screw you. That's a classic line," she said, snatching the coins out of his hand as he offered them again.

"Alright, let's go," Butch said, smiling and popping the quarters into the machine, already knowing what the outcome of the bets would be. Buttercup won the arm wrestle because she'd been practicing fighting for nine years; Butch would win because he'd been practicing this game for nine years, so that he knew every twist, turn, and cheat on all the tracks. Five minutes and three laps later, Butch was turning to smile at a fuming Buttercup.

"No way," she mumbled, slamming her head down on the steering wheel in shame, her hair curtained around her face.

"Yes way," Butch said successfully, sliding out of the seat. "I'll pick you up at 7, babe! Wear green!"

Butch did a little dance and then slowly made his way towards the door, when he heard behind him: "Hey, Butch."

He turned around on his heel and grinned at the girl, who never lifted her head. "Yes, date?"

She was silent for a moment, and then said, "You're paying, moron. Don't show up broke, or I'll kick your ass."

"As you should if I do," Butch affirmed, and then swung the door open, triumphantly heading back outside.  
><strong>-x-<strong>  
>Bubbles lay on the couch at about 11:30 PM, mindlessly flipping through the channels on TV and her sisters both upstairs (Blossom asleep and Buttercup sitting around on the internet) when she heard her phone begin to vibrate on the table beside her. She picked it up, already knowing who it was from and dreading the message that it contained; upon reading the message, however, Bubbles couldn't help but to let out a long sigh of relief.<p>

**FROM:** Boomer  
><strong>TIME: <strong>11:47 AM  
>rebekah's going out of town this week, but maybe we can hang out still? ive got something to show you thats pretty cool!<p>

_Thank God_, Bubbles thought-now she had a little bit longer until she next had to see Rebekah and she would still get an opportunity to spend time with Boomer. Smiling, she pressed reply and texted back:

**FROM:** Bubbles  
><strong>TIME:<strong> 11:48 AM  
>sounds fun:) what time?<br>**  
><strong>**FROM:** Boomer  
><strong>TIME:<strong> 11:49  
>say about 5 AM? I know it's a bit early, but it'll be worth it. meet me at the secret spot:)<p>

Bubbles typed out a quick "Alright!:)" and dashed upstairs to pick out the perfect outfit for the occasion, hoping that the look might make Boomer forget about Rebekah and-

_Wait_, Bubbles thought, halfway between deciding between a blue shirt or a white shirt. How could she hang out with Boomer without telling him that Rebekah was cheating on him? It just wasn't fair to keep that kind of thing from him.

On the other hand, though, she couldn't tell him without Rebekah turning things around and making Bubbles look and feel like the bad guy by either telling Boomer that (a) she was lying or (b) that she had known the whole time and hadn't said anything. It was a real lose-lose situation.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Bubbles sat down on her bed, placing her head in her hands while she thought. There seemed like there was no way to give away Rebekah's dirty little secret. Unless...

There was no way Rebekah could turn things around if Boomer caught her in the act. If Bubbles could somehow make sure that Boomer caught Rebekah in the act of cheating, he would know, Rebekah would be caught, and Bubbles would be a hero! It made plenty of sense, as long as she could time it just right.

Bubbles clapped her hands together quietly at the thought of it, laid her powder blue sweatshirt and dark ripped shorts on a chair, and jumped into bed. She had an early start the next morning, and she didn't plan on missing a single bit of it.  
><strong>-x-<strong>  
>Across the town, there was someone else up late, a boy with bright hair who was unable to get any rest after a long day.<p>

Brick tossed and turned in his bed that night, trying to get his brain to be quiet and leave him to sleep. He shouldn't have cared that he yelled at Blossom and hurt her feelings, let alone be kept up with the thought of it. Normally the only thing that kept him wide awake was Amy, so the fact that his conscious wouldn't silence itself really bothered him.

Maybe it was just the look on Blossom's face. It reminded him so much of her that it almost hurt to think about it, because that was the same face she'd made when she took off. Maybe he shouldn't have been so hard on her; his temper always got the best of him, and it brought anything good for anyone.

He sat up in bed and, deciding that he needed some kind of advice, headed out of his room and down the hall, looking at the two doors on either side of him. If he went into Boomer's room, he would get a really long, thought out conversation, and a deep answer. If he went into Butch's room, though, he would get a short, sweet, and to-the-point response, no beating around the bush, just raw solutions. He thought about the situation, evaluated his feelings, and then knocked on the door on the left.

"What?" a rough voice yelled from inside, and Brick pushed his way into Butch's room, where his brother was still wide awake, screaming into a headset while playing a video game, music playing in the background, and empty Monster cans spread across the floor.

"Would it kill you to clean up in here?" asked Brick as he stared down at dirty clothes, empty boxes of food, and other miscellaneous on the floor.

Butch turned to talk to Brick first, and then back to his mic set. "Yeah, it would kill me—NO I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU, YOU PIECE OF—"

"I wanted to ask you something," Brick spoke over all the noise. He began to wonder if it was his subconscious that was keeping him up, or just Butch's incessant gaming habits.

"Hurry up, I'm busy-I SAID I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU! ARE YOU DEAF, YOU-?"

"It's about something that happened with Blossom today," he admitted, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal.

Butch, being Butch, had to make it into a big deal regardless. "Blossom? As in, Powerpuff—SHUT THE HELL UP I AM NOT TRYNA TALK TO YOU!—Blossom? The one you told us to stay away from?"

Brick sighed. "Butch, I know what I said. We talked about Amy today, though, kind of-"

At the mention of the name, though, Butch automatically whipped off his headset to listen. "You guys talked about Amy? Brick, you—"

"I don't talk about it. I know, I didn't talk about it. I called her Amy on accident a few times, and she kept asking me about it, so I got angry and she left. And now I feel a bit...guilty."

Brick could see a smart remark form on Butch's lip for a moment, a sly smile make the corners of his mouth twitch, but Butch held it in, because he knew that when it came to Amy, Brick didn't like to joke around.

"Well, make it up to her then," Butch suggested. "Something friendly and crap."

He began to pick back up his headphones and he brought his bag of chips a bit closer, so Brick knew it was time to go. It wasn't a half-bad idea, and Brick decided that he might even use it. Maybe he would invite Blossom over for dinner-they'd have plenty to talk about, because he knew for a fact that they both kept up with the current events, books, and and news-and apologize for his temper.

"Thanks," Brick mumbled, and as he went out into the hallway, his brother spoke again.

"By the way, I feel like now would be the right time to tell you that I've got a hot date tomorrow with Powerpuff Buttercup. Don't get mad me, though, because you're guilty of Powerpuff crimes too."

"Butch..." Brick began to growl, but then bit his tongue and stopped himself from saying anything else. Butch, for once, was right, and Brick was in no position to scold.

Brick was shutting the door when Butch spoke a last time. His brother gave him a look of sympathy, a look that would coke from Butch about once in a million years. "It's not your fault, Brick," he began, trying to make a convincing argument. "BUT THAT WAS YOUR FAULT, YOU DUMB MOTHER-"

Brick stood for a moment, watching his monstrosity of a brother go on with his game, and then stepped out of the room, sighing heavily as he made his way back to his own bed. Now that his mind was made up and his conscious cleared, he could get the night's sleep that he deserved.

**OPTIONAL OPTIONAL _OPTIONAL _REVIEW QUESTIONS:**

1. Are you excited most for Blossom & Brick's dinner, Bubbles & Boomer's day out, or Butch and Buttercup's date?

2. What kind of advice do you think Boomer might've given Brick? (And should I write an bonus scene for those of you who wanted to see it?)

3. What should Bubbles & Boomer do on their day off? I'll try to use at least one idea in the next chapter. In addition, how do you think her plan will go?

4. Where should Butch take Buttercup on their date?  
>5. What was your favorite scene in this chapter?<p> 


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